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1Volume 110 | Number 1/2
January/February 2014
South African Journal of Science
http://www.sajs.co.za
Using SNPs to find my roots
South Africa has been a true democracy for almost 20 years. There have been many positive developments in this
time; some (including those relating to science) seem almost miraculous when one considers for instance some
of the consequences of the Arab Spring. Despite our two decades of freedom from apartheid, we sadly remain
a substantially racially divided nation. As a scientist with a strong interest in genetics, my own racial heritage
has always been of interest to me. Although sequencing one’s own genome remains inordinately expensive for
the average person, determining one’s single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype has become relatively
inexpensive. And it is against this background that I now have confirmation of who my own ancestors were.
It is almost fashionable in South Africa to be able to claim a southern African ancestor. My DNA analysis shows that
while I can claim to be 1% African, there is nothing to suggest that any of my ancestors ever lived in southern Africa.
This finding must clearly be viewed against the backdrop of the fact that humans originated in Africa. My ancestors
obviously left Africa a very long time ago! I can, however, report that I share 2.9% of my genome with Neander thals,
for whatever that is worth. My current theory – and I am sticking to it – is that Neanderthals were blonde!
I grew up with the knowledge that my great-great-grandfather, 23 generations back, was Robert the Bruce. For
those not raised on European history, he was King of Scots in 1306. Much time has passed since he was king and
I do not have any claims on the Scottish throne nor is there any evidence of any family treasure to which I might
have rights. However, my father was very proudly Scottish. My mother can trace her English ancestors back to the
Tudors and her mother was Irish. It is thus not at all surprising that my DNA profile is 50–70% English or Celtic and
that overall I am 98% European with a very small Northern African and Asian influence.
My mitochondrial genome is also one of the European lineages. In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve,
Bryan Sykes1 named the originator of my mtDNA haplogroup Jasmine. I obviously come from a very long line of
European women and I have passed my mitochondrial genome on to my children.
The story regarding my ‘roots’ is exactly what I expected. But it was interesting (somewhat reassuring) to have it
confirmed and to understand some of the other aspects of my gene pool. It was also fascinating to learn how much
we know already as a result of Genome Wide Association Genetics. Based on my SNP genotype, I am predicted to
be blonde and to have blue eyes. The fact that this reflects my phenotype exactly is both reassuring and also shows
how much one can tell from just a million SNPs.
Testing for genetic diseases based on SNP linkage has become a component of the commercially available tests
that the medical profession is already using. It is thus important that we come to understand more about genetics
and our own genomes. Yet, there are also some complex consequences to having access to all these data. For
example, in the South African context, the availability of these data may force a re-evaluation of our various racial
classifications. In parts of the USA, the ‘one drop rule’ has been applied to race classification – any mixed race
ancestry determines one’s race. I would suggest that having one’s genomic data available vividly illustrates how
pointless these various classification systems really are. We are all probably a bit of a mixture – some, such as
myself, a bit more ‘European’, while others are finding unexpected ‘roots’ to celebrate.
The poet Langston Hughes2 wrote in his 1940 memoir
You see, unfortunately, I am not black. There are lots of different kinds of blood in our
family. But here in the United States, the word 'Negro' is used to mean anyone who has
any Negro blood at all in his veins. In Africa, the word is more pure. It means all Negro,
therefore black. I am brown.
A colleague of mine who has a mixed-race son once told me that, in her homeland, her child is ‘neither White nor
Black but rather just beautiful’. The data of our genomes will ultimately be available to us all. And hopefully they will
emphasise the fact that the human race is something truly beautiful to behold.
References
1. Sykes B. The seven daughters of Eve. London: Bantam Press; 2001.
2. Hughes L. The big sea, an autobiography. New York: Knopf; 1940.
AUTHOR:
Brenda Wingfield1
AFFILIATION:
1Faculty of Natural and
Agricultural Sciences, University
of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
CORRESPONDENCE TO:
Brenda Wingfield
EMAIL:
brenda.wingfield@fabi. up.ac.za
POSTAL ADDRESS:
Faculty of Natural and
Agricultural Sciences, University
of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002,
South Africa
KEYWORDS:
genetics; ancestry;
genome; single nucleotide
polymorphism; lineage
HOW TO CITE:
Wingfield B. Using SNPs
to find my roots. S Afr J
Sci. 2014;110(1/2), Art.
#a0046, 1 page. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1590/sajs.2014/a0046
© 2014. The Authors.
Published under a Creative
Commons Attribution Licence.
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