Human pathology

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Americas

The Americas were the last continents reached by modern humans, most likely through Beringia. However, the precise time and mode of the colonization of the New World remain hotly disputed issues.

Native American populations exhibit almost exclusively five mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups (A-D and X). Haplogroups A-D are also frequent in Asia, suggesting a northeastern Asian origin of these lineages.

However, the differential pattern of distribution and frequency of haplogroup X led some to suggest that it may represent an independent migration to the Americas.

References

- Fagundes NJ, Kanitz R, Eckert R, Valls AC, Bogo MR, Salzano FM, Smith DG, Silva WA Jr, Zago MA, Ribeiro-dos-Santos AK, Santos SE, Petzl-Erler ML, Bonatto SL. Mitochondrial population genomics supports a single pre-Clovis origin with a coastal route for the peopling of the Americas. Am J Hum Genet. 2008 Mar;82(3):583-92. PMID: 18313026