Irish are genetically distinct from other Europeans

[Chi019]

New Scientist reports on the first Irish genome that has been sequenced:

THE Irish are genetically distinct from other Europeans – including their British neighbours. That's according to the first genome of an Irish person to be sequenced, which turns out to have a host of unusual genetic variations.

Brendan Loftus of University College Dublin, who led the team responsible, says the unnamed Irishman – whom a genotyping study had already shown to be representative of Ireland – possessed 400,000 novel mutations of single DNA bases. Nearly 8000 of these appear to be inherited along with genes known to influence disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease and liver disease, so the newly discovered mutations may help shed light on the genetic basis of these conditions.

As an outlying island, Ireland should hold some genetic surprises, Loftus says. Indeed, the genome was so distinctive it shows that "the Irish genome inhabits a hitherto unsampled region in European genome variation", he adds

First Irish genome sequenced - life - 08 September 2010 - New Scientist

[YoungLiberal]

Why doesn't this surprise me?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWIqQqliksc]YouTube - Tommy Tiernan on Irish and the Irish - 'Loose' Montreal Fest[/ame]

[Cruimh]

Hilarious stuff - all this from one individual who has been studied.......

[YoungLiberal]

Hilarious stuff - all this from one individual who has been studied.......

Doesn't it say the individual was already found to be representative of Irish people?

[Cruimh]

Doesn't it say the individual was already found to be representative of Irish people?

How can one person be deemed representative of anything when no other Irish person has had their genome typed ?
They say it's a most unusual genome - but they are assuming it is typical of over 4 million people ......

How representative is this person in general terms ?

Who did they choose and why ?

It's a wise child that knows it's own father

[Old Mr Grouser]

...... How representative is this person in general terms ?

... It's a wise child that knows it's own father

Very true, Cruimh.

And for an example, Mr Brian Cowen is definitely not representative of me.

[theghost]

Doesn't it say the individual was already found to be representative of Irish people?

Was the individual representative of me? I'm Irish - born and bred in Dublin with an English father (no Irish roots) and an Irish mother with the slight blip of a Swiss grandmother in her ancestry. I very much doubt if there is a single individual in this country who is purely and unadulteratedly (is that a word?) Irish

[Cruimh]

Very true, Cruimh.

And for an example, Mr Brian Cowen is definitely not representative of me.

Phil Lynott was Irish .....

I knew an English girl all of whose grandparents were Irish ....

It's bollix.

[Cruimh]

Was the individual representative of me? I'm Irish - born and bred in Dublin with an English father (no Irish roots) and an Irish mother with the slip blip of a Swiss grandmother in her ancestry. I very much doubt if there is a single individual in this country who is purely and unadulteratedly (is that a word?) Irish

Indeed - the ancestral and hence genetic make up of people will vary round the Island - Norman roots, Viking roots, Gallowglass Roots and a myriad of other peoples who in small numbers have lived here or fathered children onto local girls .......

[diy01]

The criteria (if I remember correctly) was that the person had to have ' born within Ireland-only' roots going back three generations.