. A new study revealed that while Britons do share 30% with modern Germans through Anglo-Saxons who arrived on the islands in the area of 1500 centuries ago, very few genetic traces of Normans and Vikings are found today. An international scientific team conducted the study and found that Anglo-Saxons, people who migrated from Germany, were the sole conquering force contributing significantly to the modern Britons’ genetic makeup. The majority of modern white Britons’ DNA is likely to be from immigrants who migrated after the last Ice Age, and before the Romans arrived. Genetic analysis revealed maps of the 17 regions clusters. Image: WTCHG. This first-ever comprehensive genetic analysis of Britain’s population reveals subtle differences in modern Britons’ genetic makeup. These variations reflect their history as a result of colonization by people from Europe. Peter Donnelly (Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics) co-directed this study along with Simon Myers (also from WTCHG), Stephen Leslie from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (Australia), and Garrett Hellenthal (University College London). The findings were published in Nature, a journal that studies the effects of invaders on human genetics. Genetic analysis in the United Kingdom shows that DNA from Britain’s earliest settlers after the last Ice Age is evident. Wales had the highest concentration of early British DNA. The DNA from Anglo-Saxon descent is only 40% in the eastern and central regions of Britain, where Anglo-Saxons settled after the fall of the Roman Empire. Sir Walter Bogmer from WTCHG’s Department of Oncology was responsible for the creation of the project. As a basis for studies on genetic diseases, he wanted to find out if there was meaningful genetic differentiation among UK population. The Britons are led by Queen Boadicea against the Romans. According to the study, there are no one Celtic group. Sir Walter, along with his colleagues, collected DNA samples from 2 ,039 Britons living in rural areas. Their four grandparents were all born within an 50 miles (80km) of one another. This allowed for the collection of DNA from the grandparents, who were all born prior to the big population shifts of the 20th century. Scientists used statistical tools for unprecedented detail to analyze DNA samples from participants. The genetic clusters were found to coincide with geographic areas. People in Orkney, for example, were different than all other groups. However, those living in Cornwall had a lot in common with their Devon neighbours. Each cluster was then compared with DNA samples taken from six ,209 individuals in ten European countries with history of immigration to Britain. The unique DNA signature of Orkney was due to a high dose of Norse Viking genetics. However, the dominance of Denmark in northern and eastern England between the 9th and the 11th centuries had virtually no genetic evidence. Surprisingly there are very few Norman genetic traces in the DNA of modern Britons. Image: English Heritage. The research relied on sophisticated statistical techniques and high-performance computing to discover these subtle effects. Myers stated that “In the future, increasing datasets will enable us to learn more about the genetic history the UK and other rich histories in other parts of the world by using similar techniques.” The study found that the Celtic regions of the UK (Cornwall, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland) are genetically the most distinct from one another. Genetically, the Cornish sample was more like other English populations than those of the Scots and Welsh. Anglo-Saxon contributions The Anglo-Saxons played a part in a large portion of the modern Briton’s genetic makeup. However, it is not all. The study settles one historical dispute: the Anglo-Saxons intermarried with the existing population, rather than replacing them. There is the Landsker Line. The Landsker boundary refers to the border between English-speaking regions and Welsh-speaking ones in Southwest Wales. Sometimes, the English-speaking area is called “Little England Beyond Wales”. DNA research points to the Landsker Line’s effect. Pre-Roman migration contributed the most. The study shows that there was a significant migration to Britain after the initial post-ice age settlers but before the arrival of the Romans. The DNA of these migrants spread throughout the British Isles but was not able to have an impact on Wales. The largest contributor to modern English DNA is likely to have been these migrations over several millennia. However, little information about them has been available. We have been able tell the story of all the people by using sophisticated statistical and genetic methods. Graham Coop, a population geneticist from the University of California Davis believes that it should also be possible to map the British ancestry of Americans as well as other individuals with more varied genetic backgrounds. Ewen callaway, writing in Nature quotes Mr. Coop as saying: “But it gets trickier the farther back your ancestry is in you family tree, as the less your genome is related to any single ancestor.” Nature. Publication March 19, 2015. DOI: 10. 1038/nature14230.
