Arturo's comments about Gary Felix Mexico DNA project

["Edward Serros" <ed@...>]

--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Arturo Ramos" <arturo.ramos2@v...> wrote:
>
> Gary is only focused on yDNA... paternal lines and his group is very 
> much focused on the "conquistadores" and Spanish lineages.
> 
> The mtDNA data for Mexico shows that most of the maternal genetic 
> material in modern Mexico is indigenous and given the demographic 
> collapse that occured shortly after contact with the Spanish, and the 
> subsequent movement of indigenous labor around the country, the mtDNA 
> information would draw a very different picture than the data Gary is 
> gathering.
> 
> We might be able to trace the ethnic groups of our indigenous 
> ancestors or at the very least learn about the migration patterns and 
> settlement waves that resulted in the indigenous population of Mexico.

Arturo, 

I asked Gary Felix to comment on your email. I think we all understand that the Americas, 
particularly Mexico and South America, are the mixing of three major cultures/races: 
European, Native American Indian, and African. It would not be unusual to find traces or 
large chunks of DNA from any of these three cultures/races in any Mexican or Mexican-
American. Very few Mexicans or Mexican-Americans can confidently go much further back 
than three generations.  Below are Gary's remarks.



Ed,
please post the following:
 
While it is true the mtdna tells a different story, with just 65 samples in our project of a 
type of dna that mutates slowly, the story is yet to be written. We would need far more 
mtdna samples to draw firm conclusions. Many have joined the Mexico DNA project via the 
mtdna route. As I expressed in Joseph's podcast I am very excited about the mtdna 
possibilities of our NA ancestors. For reference I post to the The Genealogy of Mexico DNA 
Forum updates on mtdna in our project. 
http://www.ybase.org/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=511
 
What we do know is that mtdna haplogroup A within Mexico is most prevalent. Here are 
some links related to mtdna in the americas and mtdna haplogroup A.
 
http://www.genetree.com/product/native-american-data.asp
 
http://www.olypen.com/amelia/aiyana/index.html
 
http://www.friendsofpast.org/pdf/DOI/DOI03938.pdf
 
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/issues/v66n3/990202/990202.web.pdf
 
You can compare your results here:
http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/~vincent/founder2000/index.html
 
I would encourage those with mtdna results to post to mitosearch:
http://www.mitosearch.org/
We are at a stage in this research where everyone can contribute.
 
Gary