Ancient DNA reveals reason for high MS and Alzheimer’s rates in Europe – University of Cambridge news

Past human gene pools of western Eurasia

In Nature paper (3) the researchers including Morten Allentoft, Professor at Curtin University, Australia and Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at UCPH, Martin Sikora, Associate Professor at the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at UCPH, andKristian Kristiansen, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, show that genetic differences between ancient populations in western Eurasia were substantially higher than previously estimated, and also much higher than observed in present-day populations.

In Nature paper (4) the team reports findings that overturn the commonly-held view that the ancestors of present-day Danes were Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

The team, including Professor Kristian Kristiansen and Dr Anders Fischer, both affiliated with the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre at UCPH, analysed DNA from 100 skeletons of the prehistoric inhabitants of the region now known as Denmark, who lived between 10,000 years ago and 2,700 years ago.

They found that since the last Ice Age around 12,000 years ago, Denmark has experienced two near-total population turnover events, the second of which is still evident in the gene pool of present-day Scandinavia.

Around 5,900 years ago at the dawn of the Neolithic Age, a group of farmers with genetic roots in Anatolia - the Asian part of present-day Turkey brought a new farming culture to Denmark. The resulting changes in diet were clear in analysis of the ancient bones, and show that these farmers completely replaced the hunter-gatherers living in the region.

Then, around 5,000 years ago, the Yamnaya arrived and eliminated the Anatolian farmers. The Yamnaya people are the closest ancestors of present-day ethnic Danes.

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Ancient DNA reveals reason for high MS and Alzheimer's rates in Europe - University of Cambridge news