Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Genetic diversity in Mexico

A very interesting story about the genetic diversity among Mexico's indigenous and mestizo populations, especially for medical importance. But isn't it interesting that in the U.S. when minorities respond differently to medical treatments, it's because of poverty, discrimination and biased research. In Mexico, apparently it's because of different gene pools. Who knew? http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/06/people-mexico-show-stunning-amount-genetic-diversity

When the team analyzed the genomes of 511 indigenous individuals from all over Mexico, they found a striking amount of genetic diversity. The most divergent indigenous groups in Mexico are as different from each other as Europeans are from East Asians, they report online today in Science. This diversity maps onto the geography of Mexico itself. The farther away ethnic groups live from each other, the more different their genomes turn out to be.

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