By Steve Connor, Science Editor
1 December 1999
Scientists have established a direct link between today's inhabitants of
Japan and ancient South American Indians by studying the DNA of mummies
recovered from the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Researchers found a virus embedded in the genetic material of the mummified
bodies identical to a virus that infects modern Japanese people. The
findings show that the Aids-like virus, HTLV-1 (human T-cell leukaemia virus
type-1), must have infected the Asiatic ancestors of the ancient Amerindians
who migrated to the Americas across the Bering Straits landbridge more than
20,000 years ago.
Kazuo Tajima and colleagues from the Aichi Cancer Centre Research Institute
in Nagoya, Japan, found fragments of the virus in 1,500-year-old mummies
recovered from the Chilean desert, the driest place on Earth. In a study
published in the journal Nature Medicine, the scientists showed the range of
genetic variation seen in the viruses extracted from 104 mummies closely
match the viruses infecting modern Japanese.
The findings provide firm evidence to support the theory of an Asian
invasion and colonisation of South America long before it was conquered by
the Spanish. The researchers suggest that studying fragments of retrovirus,
which like the Aids virus becomes embedded in human DNA, could help
archaeologists to understand the population movements that resulted in
different parts of the world being colonised. They can survive for many
years in teeth and bone
"Analysis of these ancient viral sequences could be a useful tool for
studying the history of human retroviral infection, as well as human
prehistoric migration," they say.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Pacific_Rim/japanese011299.shtml
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