Genetic Links Among Men Who Share Surnames

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Genetic Links Among Men Who Share Surnames

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=38190

By comparing the DNA of 150 pairs of men who share British surnames,

researchers have shown that about a quarter of pairs are linked

genetically.

The link is via the Y chromosome--the part of our genetic material

that confers maleness and is passed, like many surnames, from father

to son. A simple correspondence between name and Y chromosome could

in principle connect all men sharing a surname into one large family

tree. However, in reality the link may be weak for a number of

reasons--for example, the existence of multiple independent founders

for many names, adoptions, name changes, and non-paternities.

Nonetheless, previous research had suggested a genetic link for some

particular names.

The new study, from Turi King, Stéphane Ballereau, and Mark Jobling

from the University of Leicester and Schürer from the

University of Essex, examines the issue more generally by analyzing

many names and recruiting pairs randomly from the population. Pairs

sharing surnames are on average much more likely to share Y

chromosomes than pairs with different names, and the link becomes

stronger as names become rarer. For example, there is no link for

, , and , but a clear link for Attenborough,

Widdowson, and Grewcock. Linked men share a common ancestor from less

than 20 generations ago (about 1300 AD), when surnames were founded.

The research has important implications for genealogists wishing to

connect branches of their family trees, and also in forensic science,

since it suggests that, given large databases of names and Y

chromosome profiles, surname prediction from DNA alone may be

feasible.