Oldest DNA in America traced back in Montana Man
DNA tests are used for a variety of purposes. By comparing their DNA, they can determine if someone was involved in a crime, and a paternity testing clinic can determine if a child is genuinely their son or daughter. Tracing back genetic lineage is a growing trend in DNA testing, or one man may have discovered he has the oldest DNA in America.
According to one genetic business, a new client has acquired the title of having the oldest traceable DNA in the Americas. According to a Great Falls Tribune article, Alvin ‘Willy’ Crawford’s DNA has been traced back 55 generations with startling 99 percent accuracy, making his lineage the longest ever tracked by ancestry testing business CRI Genetics.
According to the report, Crawford’s DNA has been traced back 17,000 years thanks to the genetic tests.
Crawford’s lineage is so long and accurate that the business told Crawford’s family it was “like finding Big Foot.”
According to the story, Crawford died of a heart attack just before CRI’s genetic testing was completed, although he was told that his ancestors had moved across the Bering Land Bridge during an Ice Age.
On the other hand, Crawford belonged to the mtDNA Haplogroup B2 — a genetic subgroup — which is highly frequent in southern America, according to his DNA.
Crawford’s ancestors most likely journeyed from Asia to South America before heading north, according to CRI.
According to the report, Crawford’s DNA was 83 percent native American, with 73 percent coming from only one tribe, the Blackfeet Nation.
As the technology to sequence and interpret genomes has progressively increased, our understanding of how species, including humans, have evolved.
The first fully sequenced genome of early humans was discovered by chance in 2010.
After studying a 4,000-year-old hairball found frozen in Greenland soil, scientists were able to map the entire genome of an early ancient human – the piece of genetic history pales compared to other ancient human DNA that has been dated as far back as 430,000 years.
Similarly, researchers found last year that people likely migrated across the Bering Strait land bridge into Alaska in one swoop rather than in waves, as previously assumed, after analyzing the DNA of a six-week-old Native American newborn who died 11,500 years ago.
The implications of DNA testing have had more personal rippling effects for individuals in Native American groups such as the one to which Crawford and his family belong.
People’s participation in tribes is now being tested via genetic testing, which has sparked controversy. If tests show that they have less than a particular percentage of a tribe’s DNA, they may not be let in.
Native American ancestry debates have even reached the national stage, evidenced by a public disagreement between presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and President Donald Trump over Warren’s supposed Native American lineage.
She used DNA testing to back up her allegation.
Before publication, a representative from CRI Genetics had not responded to a request for comment.
