Tautalus
Regular Member
- Messages
- 545
- Reaction score
- 1,380
- Points
- 93
- Ethnic group
- Portuguese
- Y-DNA haplogroup
- I2-M223 / I-FTB15368
- mtDNA haplogroup
- H6a1b2y
The POPGEN project aims to build a French-specific genomic reference panel. The study began with a large volunteer pool and progressively selected individuals for SNP-chip genotyping and then whole-genome sequencing, ensuring broad geographic representation across French departments.
Preliminary SNP-chip analyses revealed clear evidence of fine-scale population stratification within France.
Using haplotype-based methods such as ChromoPainter and visualization techniques like UMAP, researchers identified multiple genetic clusters that closely correspond to geographic regions and departments.
Although the proportion of genetic variance explained by regional divisions is small, it is statistically significant, showing that France is not genetically homogeneous. The historical regional structure is visible in the genome and the genetic similarity decreases gradually with geographic distance.
Identity-by-descent analyses further indicate that much of this structure reflects relatively recent shared ancestry, particularly within the last 1,500 years.
We can see by the relative contribution of European populations from the 1000 Genomes Project to the imputation of POPGEN individuals that no single European reference population adequately represents French genetic diversity. Different French regions show varying genetic affinities with neighboring European groups, reflecting geography and historical migrations. Northwestern France show higher similarity to British-related 1000G populations, southern France show higher similarity to Iberian (Spanish) populations and southeastern France show higher similarity to TSI (Central/Italian) populations.
Preliminary SNP-chip analyses revealed clear evidence of fine-scale population stratification within France.
Using haplotype-based methods such as ChromoPainter and visualization techniques like UMAP, researchers identified multiple genetic clusters that closely correspond to geographic regions and departments.
Although the proportion of genetic variance explained by regional divisions is small, it is statistically significant, showing that France is not genetically homogeneous. The historical regional structure is visible in the genome and the genetic similarity decreases gradually with geographic distance.
Identity-by-descent analyses further indicate that much of this structure reflects relatively recent shared ancestry, particularly within the last 1,500 years.
We can see by the relative contribution of European populations from the 1000 Genomes Project to the imputation of POPGEN individuals that no single European reference population adequately represents French genetic diversity. Different French regions show varying genetic affinities with neighboring European groups, reflecting geography and historical migrations. Northwestern France show higher similarity to British-related 1000G populations, southern France show higher similarity to Iberian (Spanish) populations and southeastern France show higher similarity to TSI (Central/Italian) populations.