An Update of a Classic

As featured in a classic episode of The Simpsons:


Homer's Dream Car (1991)
As updated by Nissan:

Nissan Pivo 2 (2007)
Update Oct-26-2007 6:45PM: Those familiar with the evolutionary process realize that transformations like the one shown above are almost always not straightforward, often requiring intermediate steps. This principle also applies to the Nissan Pivo 2, which as the name indicates, is the second of its kind. Its immediate predescessor, the Nissan Pivo (shown below), fulfills the role of a transitional missing link, exhibiting a combination of traits seen in its ancestor as well as its descendant:

The Missing Link (2005)

Pre-Hispanic Philippines: Patrilineal Genetic Demography

In a comment to my previous post on my paternal genetic history, blogger Cocoy remarked:

"interesting to see how migration patterns occurred. wonder how many Filipinos have gone through what you did? Because it would be interesting to know where our general population comes from."

One way to define population distribution is via genetic markers called Haplogroups*. I did some googling and found this Map of Haplogroups of the World. The map showing Patrilineal (Y-Chromosome) Genetic distribution among world populations around 1500 AD prior to European imperial expansion.**

Copyright: JD Macdonald, 2005 (Click on image to enlarge)
As shown in the above diagram, pre-Hispanic Philippines was dominated by subgroups of Haplogroup O (shown in blue, comprising more than 80%) followed by subgroups under Haplogroup C (around 4%). The diagram below highlights (in yellow) the positions of these Haplogroups in the Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree.

Source: Wikipedia entry on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups
(Click on image to enlarge)
There are other haplogroups found in the Philippines at that time like Haplogroup K (ancestor of Haplogroup O), but for this entry, i will focus on variants of the more common ones as follows:

Haplogroup O1A (M119): This genetic marker first appeared 30,000 years ago and is commonly found among the Austronesian people. As explained by Jojo Malig in his blog entry I, Austronesian, these people made their way to the islands comprising the Philippines via Taiwan. The languages found in the Philippines including Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Kapampangan, and Tausug belong to the Austronesian family of languages.

Haplogroup O1A (M119) Migration Pattern
(Click on image for details)
[Source: Genographic Project Website]
Haplogroup O3 (M122): This genetic marker first appeared 10,000 years ago and is commonly found among Han Chinese (more than 50% frequency). As per the wikipedia entry, about 35% of today's Filipino males possess this genetic marker. My non-expert guess is that these people tagged along with the more numerous Austronesians as the latter expanded out of the Asian Mainland. Another (non-mutually exclusive) possibility is that they arrived in the Philippines later via separate wave(s) of migration.

Haplogroup O3 (M122) Migration Pattern
(Click on image for details)
[Source: Genographic Project Website]
Haplogroup C (M130): This haplogroup first appeared 50,000 years ago and is found in such seemingly diverse populations as the Australian Aborigines and the Mongols. They are the ones who crossed the land bridge that connected the Philippines to the Asian Mainland during the last Ice Age.

Haplogroup C (M130) Migration Pattern
(Click on image for details)
[Source: Genographic Project Website]
Haplogroup C3 (M217): Around 20,000 years ago, a mutation appeared that gave rise to this Haplogroup which became one of the most widely dispered among the patrilineal genetic markers.

Haplogroup C3 (M217) Migration Pattern
(click on image for details)
[Source: Genographic Project Website]
In more recent history, this Haplogroup was propagated even more via the conquests of Genghis Khan.

More information about the above and other Haplogroups along their migration patterns can be found in the Genographic Website's Atlas of the Human Journey.

Update Oct-20-2007 1:12PM:Check out Anonymous' informative comments and clarifications in the comments section of this entry.

Update April-25-2008: Based on the Y-DNA Haplogroup information in the Genographic website, i have drawn a Family Tree to work out how each haplogroup is related to the other.

Update May-23-2008: Corrected my annotation on the above Wikipedia entry on Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups diagram.

*Aside from Y-Chromosone Haplogroups, there are also Haplogroups classified on the basis of mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is passed on from the maternal line. However, the discussion in this blog entry will only cover Y-DNA Haplogroups.

**The current (as of today) Wikipedia entry on the Filipino People erroneously states that Filipinos predominantly belong to Haplogroup L and Haplogroup H which couldn't be correct. As per Anonymous' explanation in the comments section, it turns out this entry is not an error just some overlap in labeling.

My Genetic History: Paternal Side

The above map traces the genetic journey my male ancestors took as revealed by the Genographic Project's analysis of my DNA. I've cut and paste sections of the explanation that accompanied the results.

Summary of Results

"Your Y-chromosome results identify you as a member of haplogroup O3. The genetic markers that define your ancestral history reach back roughly 60,000 years to the first common marker of all non-African men, M168, and follow your lineage to present day, ending with M122, the defining marker of haplogroup O3.

If you look at the map highlighting your ancestors' route, you will see that members of haplogroup O3 carry the following Y-chromosome markers:

M168 > M89 > M9 > M175 > M122

Today, more than half of all Chinese males carry the genetic marker M122, which is also widespread throughout East Asia and found in lower frequencies in Tahiti and Indonesia."

The Significance of Haplogroups

"What's a haplogroup, and why do geneticists concentrate on the Y-chromosome in their search for markers? For that matter, what's a marker?

Each of us carries DNA that is a combination of genes passed from both our mother and father, giving us traits that range from eye color and height to athleticism and disease susceptibility. One exception is the Y-chromosome, which is passed directly from father to son, unchanged, from generation to generation.

Unchanged, that is unless a mutation—a random, naturally occurring, usually harmless change—occurs. The mutation, known as a marker, acts as a beacon; it can be mapped through generations because it will be passed down from the man in whom it occurred to his sons, their sons, and every male in his family for thousands of years.

A haplogroup is defined by a series of markers that are shared by other men who carry the same random mutations. The markers trace the path your ancestors took as they moved out of Africa. It's difficult to know how many men worldwide belong to any particular haplogroup, or even how many haplogroups there are, because scientists simply don't have enough data yet."

The Genographic Project

"One of the goals of the five-year Genographic Project is to build a large enough database of anthropological genetic data to answer some of these questions. To achieve this, project team members are traveling to all corners of the world to collect more than 100,000 DNA samples from indigenous populations. In addition, we encourage you to contribute your anonymous results to the project database, [done - cvj] helping our geneticists reveal more of the answers to our ancient past."

Your Ancestral Journey: What We Know Now

"M168: Your Earliest Ancestor

Time of Emergence: Roughly 50,000 years ago
Place of Origin: Africa

The man who gave rise to the first genetic marker in your lineage probably lived in northeast Africa in the region of the Rift Valley, perhaps in present-day Ethiopia, Kenya, or Tanzania, some 31,000 to 79,000 years ago. Scientists put the most likely date for when he lived at around 50,000 years ago. His descendants became the only lineage to survive outside of Africa, making him the common ancestor of every non-African man living today.

M89: Moving Through the Middle East

Time of Emergence: 45,000 years ago
Place: Northern Africa or the Middle East

The next male ancestor in your ancestral lineage is the man who gave rise to M89, a marker found in 90 to 95 percent of all non-Africans. This man was born around 45,000 years ago in northern Africa or the Middle East.

The first people to leave Africa likely followed a coastal route that eventually ended in Australia. Your ancestors followed the expanding grasslands and plentiful game to the Middle East and beyond, and were part of the second great wave of migration out of Africa.

While many of the descendants of M89 remained in the Middle East, others continued to follow the great herds of buffalo, antelope, woolly mammoths, and other game through what is now modern-day Iran to the vast steppes of Central Asia.

These semi-arid grass-covered plains formed an ancient "superhighway" stretching from eastern France to Korea. Your ancestors, having migrated north out of Africa into the Middle East, then traveled both east and west along this Central Asian superhighway. A smaller group continued moving north from the Middle East to Anatolia and the Balkans, trading familiar grasslands for forests and high country.

M9: The Eurasian Clan Spreads Wide and Far

Time of Emergence: 40,000 years ago
Place: Iran or southern Central Asia

Your next ancestor, a man born around 40,000 years ago in Iran or southern Central Asia, gave rise to a genetic marker known as M9, which marked a new lineage diverging from the M89 Middle Eastern Clan. His descendants, of which you are one, spent the next 30,000 years populating much of the planet.

This large lineage, known as the Eurasian Clan, dispersed gradually over thousands of years. Seasoned hunters followed the herds ever eastward, along the vast super highway of Eurasian steppe. Eventually their path was blocked by the massive mountain ranges of south Central Asia—the Hindu Kush, the Tian Shan, and the Himalayas.

The three mountain ranges meet in a region known as the "Pamir Knot," located in present-day Tajikistan. Here the tribes of hunters split into two groups. Some moved north into Central Asia, others moved south into what is now Pakistan and the Indian subcontinent.

These different migration routes through the Pamir Knot region gave rise to separate lineages.

Most people native to the Northern Hemisphere trace their roots to the Eurasian Clan. Nearly all North Americans and East Asians are descended from the man described above, as are most Europeans and many Indians.

M175: The East Asian Clan

Time of Emergence: 35,000 years ago
Place of Origin: Central or East Asia

Your genetic trail next leads to an ancestor who carried marker M175. This man was born around 35,000 years ago in Central or East Asia as part of the M9 Eurasian clan that, encountering impassable mountain ranges, migrated to the north and east.

These early Siberian hunters continued to travel east along the great steppes, gradually crossing southern Siberia. Some of them, perhaps taking advantage of the Dzhungarian Gap used thousands of years later by Genghis Khan to invade Central Asia, made it into present-day China.

Today, some 80 to 90 percent of all people living east of Central Asia's great mountain ranges are members of haplogroup O, the East Asian Clan. The marker M175 is nearly nonexistent in western Asia and Europe.

There were actually two waves of migration into this region. While your ancestors populated the region from the north, another group approached from the south. Descendants of the Coastal Clan—people who left Africa perhaps 60,000 years ago and headed along the coastline toward Australia—may have reached East Asia by 50,000 years ago.

The Coastal lineage is found at a frequency of 50 percent in Mongolia, and is common throughout northeast Asia.

The present composition of East Asia still shows evidence of this ancient north-south divide, showing a clear distinction in genetic heritage between northern and southern Chinese.

Today, more than half of all Chinese males carry the genetic marker M175, which is also widespread throughout East Asia and found in lower frequencies in Tahiti and Indonesia.

M122: China's Rice Farmers

Time of Emergence: 20-25,000 years ago, expansion within last 10,000 years
Place of Origin: China

Your genetic trail ends with a marker that arose within the last 10,000 years. The ancestral male who gave rise to marker M122 was probably born in China.

The widespread distribution of this man's descendants—more than half of Chinese men—strongly suggests that the spread of your ancestors was closely tied to the spread of agriculture. Members of haplogroup O3 may well be the descendants of China's first rice farmers.

The development of rice agriculture in East Asia led to a large population expansion. Archaeological evidence for the spread of rice agriculture to Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia parallels the genetic data and suggests that a unique population carrying this marker expanded and spread throughout the region.

The pattern of settlement and intense exploitation of a few plant species was similar to, and occurred at around the same time, as the spread of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. Archaeological sites in northern China show evidence of millet (a wheatlike grain) cultivation beginning around 7,000 years ago. Rice farming had reached Indonesia's islands of Borneo and Sumatra by 4,000 years ago, and today O3 lineages are found as far afield as Polynesia."

Postscript

"This is where your genetic trail, as we know it today, ends. As additional data are collected and analyzed, more will be learned about your place in the history of the men and women who first populated the Earth."

Ten thousand years ago is as far as the current technology would take me. It could not yet cover the more recent portion of the journey including the part where my forefathers eventually end up in the Philippines.

Update October-14-2007 1:20am: According to a Wikipedia entry on Haplogroup O3, this Haplogroup is found in 35% of Filipino males.

Classification of Ideas According to Authentication

As an offshoot of our discussion over at Resty's, fellow blogger Jego took mild exception to my use of the word 'proof' in this remark - Life itself cannot be used as proof of such intelligence because there are more straightforward, alternative explanations in the form of evolution.

He further explained:

"He uses the words 'proof' and 'proven' rather loosely. When he uses 'proof' or 'proven' he actually means 'inferred from observed facts'. But no problem. I do get his drift. We're laymen so we can't all the time be expected to use words like 'proof' and 'theory' as a scientist would use them...I think he uses 'proof' to mean 'inference'."

Actually, in the context of the above exchange, and more importantly, on the basis the intent of those who believe and promote the idea of intelligent design, i would infer that proof is the more appropriate word to use. Let me explain.

Thomas Sowell, in his book Knowledge and Decisions, says that "Various ideas can be classified by their relationship to the authentication process". He then goes on the enumerate these different kinds of Ideas:

Theories	"ideas systematically prepared for authentication"
Visions	"ideas not derived from any systematic process"
Illusions	"ideas which could not survive any reasonable authentication process"
Myth	"ideas which exempt themselves from any authentication process"
Facts	"ideas which have already passed the authentication process"
Falsehoods	"ideas known to have failed - or certain to fail - such processes"..."both mistakes and lies"

From the point of view its proponents, Intelligent Design is a theory. Being a theory, it had to undergo an authentication process. What then is used to authenticate intelligent design? According to biochemist Michael Behe, it is something called irreducible complexity, which is none other than life itself (or to be less loose, the chemical processes that lead to life).

In summary, for someone who believes in this theory, the processes behind life, that are supposedly irreducably complex, serve to authenticate (and not merely infer) Intelligent Design. As far as i know, no other scientific means is used to authenticate this theory.

Prebiotic News: Creating Amino Acids

This recent news is relevant to the continuing series of posts and discussions on the Origin of Life by Resty of Expectorants, the latest of which discuss the Prebiotic Soup and the Krebs cycle.

"Chemist Jeffrey Bada was able to conduct a laboratory experiment, the results suggest that Earth's early atmosphere could have produced chemicals necessary for life—contradicting the view that life's building blocks had to come from comets and meteors."

Bada's experiment produced amino-acids, building blocks of proteins. While this represents significant progress towards recreating life under realistic early-earth conditions, the article cautions that this still falls short of the entire process:

"But James Ferris, a prebiotic chemist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., doubts that atmospheric electricity could have been the only source of organic molecules. 'You get a fair amount of amino acids,' he says. 'What you don't get are things like building blocks of nucleic acids.'

It goes on to explain that "Meteors, comets or primordial ponds of hydrogen cyanide would still need to provide those molecules."

BTW, i'm surprised to learn from the linked article that most scientists in the field believe that the building blocks of life originated from comets and meteors. I've read about this years ago, but did not realize that this has since become the majority view.