Genetic map of Europe? ?

Question

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/science/13visual.html?_r=2&ref=science&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Totally over my head.. can anyone translate this into somewhat simple terms.??

I know that several of our regulars will enjoy this..

Answer 1

It proves something you've long said...people moved around and took their genes with them. If no one believes how much of an impact that military actions have on genealogy, take a look at the long key-hole shaped Hungarian map. The more Austria-Hungary fought with the Germanic lands, the more of an influence they had on the map of Europe. No group in Europe is truly homogenous...some are just better at deluding themselves than others. The more a country went to war or got invaded in the last 1500 years, the more its invaders DNA is found in today's population.

Answer 2

The first part says that all Europeans have traits in common but that there are subtle genetic differences that can be grouped into 23 groups which happen to correspond to a map of Europe. This means that if your DNA looks like group FR your ancestors probably came from France at some point.  What makes this possible is that people in the past traveled slowly so you were likely to mate with someone from the hood.  

The 2nd part talks about how Europeans mixed. There were 3 waves of migration into Europe that brought new blood into the gene pool.   The 2 groups that retain the most distinction are in areas isolated by geography so their gene pools stayed homogeneous longer.

The last part basically says the test is too complicated to be duplicated for commercial purposes right now.    

Answer 3

My take on the New York Times article and accompanying graphics:  

1)  Genetic populations of present-day Europeans correspond roughly with present-day geographic boundaries within contemporary Europe, but occasionally they overlap as in the case of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

2)  The Finns, and to a lesser extent, the Italians, are genetically isolated from other European population groups.

3)  Europe was colonized from the South by a series of three different migrations.

Key:

UK = United Kingdom

IE = Ireland [Eire]

NO = Norway

DK = Denmark

DE 1, DE 2 = Germany [Deutschland]

PO = Poland

CZ = Czech Republic

HU = Hungary

FR = France

ES 1, ES 2 = Spain [Espana]

IT 1, IT 2 = Italy

YU = Yugoslavia

FI = Finland

EI = Greece

AT = Austria