Hugh Hewitt: February 12, 2006 - February 18, 2006 Archives - Hugh discusses an very interesting story about how some DNA studies might shake up some of the missionary work the Mormon church does in South America. Hugh has an interview with the author here.
Posted by Tim at February 17, 2006 07:05 AMAccording to research by Hammer et al in 2005 [1] self identified Native Americans in the US break down by paternal lineage as follows. About 31% are Q-P36; which is also found in Jews and other groups. About 27% are Q-M3, which is a branch of Q-P36 that is virtually unique to Native Americans. About 24% are in the R lineage group, which predominates in Europe. Only about 9% have East Asian or Siberian lineages: C-P39 and N-Tat. About 1% have African lineage, E3a. The remaining 8% belong to European-Middle Eastern lineages: I, J, E3b, G & F. Some of this is the result of post-Columbian admixture. However, it is impossible to know from the DNA alone, when a strain of any given lineage entered the Native American gene pool. The fact that both Jews and Native Americans share the Q-P36 lineage may not prove the Book of Mormon to be true, but it shatters the claim that DNA evidence refutes it.
[1] Hammer et al, 2005, Population structure of Y chromosome SNP haplogroups in the United States and forensic implications for constructing Y chromosome STR databases.
