Filipino People - Genetic Studies

Genetic Studies

See also: Models of migration to the Philippines, Demographics of the Philippines, and Ethnic groups in the Philippines

A study by Leeds University and published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, showed that mitochondrial DNA lineages have been evolving within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) since modern humans arrived approximately 50,000 years ago. Population dispersals occurred at the same time as sea levels rose, which resulted in migrations from the Philippine Islands to as far north as Taiwan within the last 10,000 years.

Filipinos are an Austronesian people, a linguistic and genetic group that includes other ethnicities from maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and the Pacific islands. Haplogroup O1a-M119 (labeled as "Haplogroup H" in this study), is commonly found among Filipinos and is shared with other Austronesian-speaking populations. After the 16th century, the colonial period saw the influx of limited genetic influence from Europeans and other populations from the Americas, Oceania, and Asia.

Filipinos also exhibit Sundadonty. The latter is regarded as having a more generalised morphology and having a longer ancestry than its offspring, Sinodonty. Dental morphology provides clues to prehistoric migration patterns, with Sinodont dental patterns occurring in East Asia, Central Asia, North Asia, and the Americas. Sundadont patterns occur in mainland and maritime Southeast Asia as well as Oceania. Filipinos are also one of the Austronesian ancestors of modern Oceanic populations, including the Māori people of New Zealand. The current predominant theory of Austronesian migrations holds that Austronesians are believed to have reached Oceania through successive southward and eastward migrations ultimately from Taiwan.

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