Month: August 2007

A recent study (epub ahead of print) published in Human Heredity examines the Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups of 120 black males from Sao Paulo, Brazil.Approximately four million Africans were taken as slaves to Brazil where they interbred extensively with Amerindians and Europeans.Previous studies from this group have shown that while white Brazilians have predominately European Y-DNA, they have high a proportion of African and Amerindian mtDNA.

Interestingly, the study showed that while only 48% of the Y-DNA was characteristic of sub-Saharan Africa, 85% of the mtDNA appeared to be of African origin.The authors also used the results to estimate the ancestral contribution of Central-West, West, and Southeast Africa to African Brazilians from Sao Paulo.I can’t reveal those time estimates, however, because I don’t have access to the article. ... Click to read more!