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Ajay
Royyuru could soon know more about you than you yourself do. The
man-he is from Andhra Pradesh in India, is married to a Bengali
and works for IBM in the US-heads the Computational Biology Center
at IBM's Thomas J. Watson research lab in New Jersey and is Big
Blue's pointsman for the Genographic Project, a collaborative
venture with National Geographic Society that seeks to use genes
to map the movement of the human race out of Africa.
If, as science has proved, all of us have
descended from, eventually, one couple that lived a few million
years ago in what is now Africa, we must all be related. Mapping
that relationship, and understanding how the migration of the
human race happened (for instance, why do tribes in the Andamans
and the Australian outback share the same physical characteristics
as those in deepest Africa?) will, apart from providing an entire
generation of scientists with jollies, help us know a bit more
about our unknown past.
Royyuru's task has been rendered difficult
by globalisation and could soon be impossible; the increasing
number of cross-cultural and cross-border marriages will soon
result in a majority of the human race displaying the same kind
of genetic profile. Which is why Royyuru and his team are seeking
out indigenous peoples like the Intuits in the Arctic region and
the Pygmies of equatorial Africa. "These people have been
isolated from modern society to a large extent," he says.
"Their genes will be similar to that of their ancestors who
migrated to that part of the world when they did."
How does one map out what routes the early
humans took to be in places where we are today? The answer lies
in DNA mutations. Each of us has a unique set of attributes that
comes from our genes (each parent contributes half of the child's
DNA and these combine to give us a new genetic combination). However,
the Y chromosome, which only males possess, does not recombine
and remains unchanged, except for random mutations. Similarly,
the woman passes mitochondrial DNA to her children and this also
does not recombine.
Royyuru and his team will study the random
mutations in the DNA, called markers. If the mutation can be tracked
to a particular region, then the geneticists can track the routes
taken by early humans as they trekked from Africa to Asia and
Europe. The project also seeks public participation in the form
of DNA samples. Those interested can log on to Genographic Project's
web site (www.nationalgeographic.com) and buy a special kit ($99,
Rs 4,356, plus postage). The kit allows you to take a sample of
your DNA (a cheek swab) and submit it through a secure channel.
To maintain anonymity, a person is identified only by his/her
kit number. Results of the DNA sample can be tracked on the web
site. Come to think of it, Rs 4,356 is a small amount to pay to
find out where you are from and how you got to where you are.
IBM and NatGeo may well give a 21st century spin to existentialism.
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