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research: 24 January 2007 http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX035576.html New research has identified the first genetic evidence of Africans having lived among 'indigenous' British people for centuries. The University of Leicester study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and published today in 'European Journal of Human Genetics', found that one-third of men with a rare Yorkshire surname carry a rare Y-chromosome type previously found only among people of West African origin. The researchers, led by Professor Mark Jobling of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, first spotted the rare Y-chromosome type, known as hgA1, in one individual, Mr X. This happened while PhD student Ms Turi King was sampling a larger group in a study to explore the association between surnames and the Y chromosome, both inherited from father to son. Mr X, a white Caucasian living in Leicester, was unaware of having any African ancestors. Although most of Britain's one million people who define themselves as 'black or black British' owe their origins to immigration from the Caribbean and Africa from the mid-20th century onwards, in reality, there has been a long history of contact with Africa. Africans were first recorded in the north 1800 years ago, as Roman soldiers defending Hadrian's Wall. To investigate the origins of hgA1 in Britain, the team recruited and studied a further 18 males with the same surname as Mr X. All but one were from the UK, with paternal parents and grandparents also born in Britain. Six, including one male in the US whose ancestors had migrated from England in 1894, were found to have the hgA1 chromosome. Further genealogical research to identify a common ancestor for all seven X-surnamed males suggests that the hgA1 Y chromosome must have entered their lineage over 250 years ago. However, it is unclear whether the male ancestor was a first-generation African immigrant or a European man carrying an African Y chromosome introduced into Britain some time earlier, or even whether the hgA1 Y chromosome goes back as far as the Roman occupation. Jean Grisel
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