Genghis Khan's Y chromosome

Genghis Khan - Mini Bio (from Bio.com)


In the current issue of Newsweek Magazine Dec. 10 2012, there is a
story entitled “The Hidden Grave of History's Greatest Warrior".
It says:

“A multidisciplinary research project uniting scientists in America
with Mongolian scholars and archeologists has the first compelling
evidence of the location of Khan’s burial site and the necropolis of
the Mongol imperial family on a mountain range in a remote area in
northwestern Mongolia.”

The discovery, if confirmed to be true, could prove to be problematic
for a variety of reasons, cultural and political.

Nevertheless, if the tomb is located, opened and his remains are found,
I would expect a comprehensive DNA study/Genome Sequence to be
performed on him.

Research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in
2003, “The Genetic Legacy of the Mongols”, suggested that 16 to 17
million men, most in Central Asia, shared a form of the Y chromosome
that indicates a common ancestor. The investigations proved that this
cluster originated from Mongolia about a thousand years ago, and its
distribution coincided surprisingly with the boundaries occupied by the
Mongol Empire at that time.

Based on this coincidence, the researchers have assumed that the Y-
chromosomes described by them belonged to Genghis Khan and his
offsprings. They concluded that Genghis Khan's direct patrilineal
descendants today constitute about 8% of men in a large area of Asia
( ie. about 0.5% of the world population).

Isn't Genghis Khan the most prolific man in history?


Yeh Tze