A genetic survey in the UK by Mark Jobling and colleagues, found a Yorkshireman who carried a globally rare Y chromosome type, described previously in only a few West African individuals. Their report in the European Journal of Human Genetics earlier this year sparked considerable press speculation about the history of African migrations into the UK.

Further information was obtained by enlarging the sample. Y chromosomes and surnames are both passed from father to son, so other men sharing the same rare east-Yorkshire surname as the original man were recruited for their study in the search for additional Y’s. One third of them were also found to carry the African chromosome. Conventional genealogical research was then used to link the participants to two family trees, both dating back to the 1780s in Yorkshire. Does this evidence pin down the date at which an African ancestor arrived in the UK?

Neil Bradman and Mark Thomas are doubtful. They have published a commentary in Heredity asking whether we should be surprised by the discovery of this Y haplotype in Yorkshire at all, given the accepted wisdom that Modern Man originated from Africa. Indeed, is it not more surprising that from a survey of 421 British males, only one carried the rare African Y chromosome?

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Click here to read the European Journal of Human Genetics article

Click here to read the Heredity News and Commentary

A genetic survey in the UK by Mark Jobling and colleagues, found a Yorkshireman who carried a globally rare Y chromosome type, described previously in only a few West African individuals. Their report in the European Journal of Human Genetics earlier this year sparked considerable press speculation about the history of African migrations into the UK.

Further information was obtained by enlarging the sample. Y chromosomes and surnames are both passed from father to son, so other men sharing the same rare east-Yorkshire surname as the original man were recruited for their study in the search for additional Y’s. One third of them were also found to carry the African chromosome. Conventional genealogical research was then used to link the participants to two family trees, both dating back to the 1780s in Yorkshire. Does this evidence pin down the date at which an African ancestor arrived in the UK?

Neil Bradman and Mark Thomas are doubtful. They have published a commentary in Heredity asking whether we should be surprised by the discovery of this Y haplotype in Yorkshire at all, given the accepted wisdom that Modern Man originated from Africa. Indeed, is it not more surprising that from a survey of 421 British males, only one carried the rare African Y chromosome?

Post a comment to share your thoughts.

Click here to read the European Journal of Human Genetics article

Click here to read the Heredity News and Commentary

According to Darwin, the female of the species could guide evolution by favouring the aesthetically blessed and harshly casting aside the not-so-fortunate. If generations of women have been making these choices, surely the world would be full of good-looking men yet, unfortunately, it most definitely isn’t. This disappointing situation is an example of the ‘lek paradox’. Why are there still good and bad looking men, if females have consistently been choosing the best looking? One possibility is that the difference is not genetic, yet all the available evidence suggests otherwise (backed up by breeding experiments in non-human species).

Professor Marion Petrie and Dr Gilbert Roberts at Newcastle University provide another explanation for this paradox in their paper in the April issue of Heredity. The authors, using computer simulations, show that female choice can in fact lead to bursts of mutation affecting male attributes. The elevated mutation would throw up even more attractive males, sadly mutation is a blind and random process, so at the same time it produces the less attractive as well.

Click here to read the Heredity article

Click here to read Cotton and Pomiankowski’s Heredity News and Commentary on this paper

Click here to read King and Kashi’s Heredity News and Commentary on this paper

Click here to view the BBC story on this paper

Click here to view the Times comment on this paper

According to Darwin, the female of the species could guide evolution by favouring the aesthetically blessed and harshly casting aside the not-so-fortunate. If generations of women have been making these choices, surely the world would be full of good-looking men yet, unfortunately, it most definitely isn’t. This disappointing situation is an example of the ‘lek paradox’. Why are there still good and bad looking men, if females have consistently been choosing the best looking? One possibility is that the difference is not genetic, yet all the available evidence suggests otherwise (backed up by breeding experiments in non-human species).

Professor Marion Petrie and Dr Gilbert Roberts at Newcastle University provide another explanation for this paradox in their paper in the April issue of Heredity. The authors, using computer simulations, show that female choice can in fact lead to bursts of mutation affecting male attributes. The elevated mutation would throw up even more attractive males, sadly mutation is a blind and random process, so at the same time it produces the less attractive as well.

Click here to read the Heredity article

Click here to read Cotton and Pomiankowski’s Heredity News and Commentary on this paper

Click here to read King and Kashi’s Heredity News and Commentary on this paper

Click here to view the BBC story on this paper

Click here to view the Times comment on this paper