Research Projects and Influential Publications
An international watershed in the publication and discussion of genetic evidence for ancient movements of people was that of Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza who used polymorphisms from proteins found within human blood (such as the ABO blood groups, Rhesus blood antigens, HLA loci, immunoglobulins, G-6-P-D isoenzymes, amongst others). One of the lasting proposals of this study with regards to Europe is that within most of Europe, the majority of genetic diversity may best be explained by immigration coming from the southeast towards the northwest or in other words from the Middle East towards Britain and Ireland. He proposed at the time that the invention of farming might be the best explanation for this.
Later published studies used mitochondrial DNA to study the female line of descent. It became possible to use Y chromosome DNA to study male descent. As opposed to large scale sampling within the genome, Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA represent specific types of genetic descent and can therefore reflect only particular aspects of past human movement.
For Britain, major research projects aimed at collecting more data include the Oxford Genetic Atlas Project (OGAP), which was associated with Bryan Sykes of Oxford University and more recently the People of the British Isles, also associated with Oxford.
Read more about this topic: Genetic History Of The British Isles
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