Bloodline Memes
Eleventh cousins share on average 60-parts-per-billion of DNA, or about 180bp (although with wide variation due to the spotty nature of meiotic recombination: in fact, 99.5% of 11th cousins will share no stretches of DNA through recent descent at all, while the remaining 0.5% will typically share tens of thousands of bases).
Instead of creating light, we conceal in darkness, instead of lifting up, we expose the treasure to ridicule and contempt.
Instead of opening a way, we barricade it by an inextricable snarl of paradoxes. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 392-396
The Mystery of Rh-Negative Blood
Genetic mapping helps to show that a mutation from RH positive to RH negative occurred somewhere in the Basque area of Europe maybe as much as 40,000 years ago. So what happened then? Ice Age Polarity Reversal Was a Global Event: Extremely Brief Reversal of Geomagnetic Field, Climate Variability,
and Super Volcano.
Such a global event greatly increases the possibilities of mutations and turning off of genes -- gene conversion and gene deletion, normal genetic processes -- a change in molecular structure. A repressed gene is turned off. This process is not externally "introduced"; it is a natural molecular process. Pseudo-scientific confabulation about Rh- produce no credible sources, but merely repeat internet memes or Belief Systems (BS).
Most mammals only have one RH gene, whose position corresponds to the human RHCE gene. The RHD gene arose from the duplication of an ancestral RH gene during mammalian evolution. An RHD deletion occurred9 during the evolution of hominids, so that many modern humans completely lack the RHD gene. This haplotype (glossary) is the leading cause of the D negative phenotype worldwide.
The human genome—our complete set of genetic information—includes thousands of genes. Some of the very first human genes to be identified were those that control blood type.
ABO blood groups and the Rh blood groups.
The Rh blood group is determined by a single gene with two alleles—positive and negative.
The positive (Rh+) allele is dominant, so person with Rh+/Rh+ or Rh+/Rh− are Rh- positive.
Individuals with two Rh− alleles are Rh-negative.
The ABO blood group has three alleles IA, IB, and i. Alleles IA and IB are codominant.
These alleles produce molecules known as antigens on the surface of red blood cells.
The RH alleles can be grouped according to their molecular structure. For the most part, these groups show point mutations (SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms) which cause missense, nonsense, frame shift or splice site mutations (glossary).
Let’s discuss the Rhesus blood group system first. This system has multiple antigens, but the most important is encoded by the RHD locus, and is called RhD or simply Rh factor. The phenotypes associated with the RHD locus are either the presence of Rh factor (Rh positive) or the absence of the Rh factor (Rh negative).
RHD-CE-D hybrid alleles are often formed by gene conversion. http://www.nature.com/scitable/popular-students-page/68
Active genes can turn other genes on or off, including themselves.
Human traits are not always controlled by a single gene; sometimes the environment [epigenetics] may “create” a trait.
The examples of molecular changes and their effects on the D antigen (Table I) show how the D antigen phenotype correlates with the molecular structure.
NO MONKEYS, NO ALIENS, NO ENKI
The genes for bloodtype and Rh factor are not even on the same chromosomes.
Rh factor has NOTHING to do with "monkey genes". but comes from the animals used to test the process.
Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys share DNA but not gene regulatory mechanisms. Up to 40 percent of the differences in the expression or activity patterns of genes between humans, chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys can be explained by regulatory mechanisms that determine whether and how a gene's recipe for a protein is transcribed to the RNA molecule that carries the recipe instructions to the sites in cells where proteins are manufactured.
A given gene, in almost all cases, codes for a protein. When that gene is present and unmutated, the protein is present and effective. In the case of Rh factor, the protein is present ("Rh-positive") or not ("Rh-negative"). If you have one copy of the gene, you've got the protein, so it doesn't matter if you have one or two -- that's dominance. Only if you have NO copies of the gene can you be Rh-negative. Recessive traits are those that require the absence of a certain protein (or mutation) to show up; blue eyes, for instance, are recessive because it's only possible to have blue eyes in the (near-total) absence of melanin, so if you have any genes for producing melanin, your eyes won't be blue.
The clinically essential difference between Rhesus positive and Rhesus negative hinges on the presence or absence of the RhD protein in the erythrocyte membrane (D positive resp. D negative).
It is unusual for erythrocyte or other cell proteins to be lacking entirely in many humans. This particular genetic feature contributes to the strong antigenicity of the RhD protein. During duplication of the ancestral RH gene, two DNA segments were formed, known as the Rhesus box (Figure 1)9. The RHD deletion resulted from an unequal crossover (figure 3), which occurs when two DNA segments are highly homologous, such as those of the Rhesus box. The RHD negative haplotype commonest among Europeans is characterized by a hybrid Rhesus box. Subtle molecular differences between the various forms of the Rhesus box are used for genetic testing.
Aside from lack of the RhD protein, the D negative phenotype is caused mainly by a series of changes in the RhD protein, which in turn change the phenotype of the D antigen.
The RhD protein traverses the erythrocyte membrane several times, leaving only part of the protein exposed at the surface (Figure 2). If an amino acid is substituted in a portion of the RhD protein which is located at the outer surface of the erythrocyte membrane, single epitopes of the D antigen can be lost or new antigens can be formed.
The structure of the RH gene site facilitates gene conversions (figure 4)10. In the RHD gene some homologous exons of the RHCE gene will be inserted, forming a hybrid Rhesus allele which expresses a corresponding hybrid protein. This is how the D categories III to VI arose. The changes usually affect a long string of amino acids, which is always located on the erythrocyte surface.
If an amino acid substitution is located within the erythrocyte membrane or the cytoplasm, this will result in a weak D phenotype (figure 2)11. Integration of the RhD protein into the membrane will be hindered, leading to quantitative weakening of the D antigen. There is usually no qualitative change, and hence no anti-D immunization. The weak D type 1 is the commonest in Europe. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2535884/
TARGET GENES CAN BE TURNED OFF BY RADIATION AND EPIGENETICS
Lowered Field Strength > Geomagnetic Excursion > Increased Cosmic Ray & Solar Bombardment > Genetic Mutation
ScienceDaily — Some 41,000 years ago, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occurred. Magnetic studies of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences on sediment cores from the Black Sea show that during this period, during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north. Moreover, data obtained by the research team formed around GFZ researchers Dr. Norbert Nowaczyk and Prof. Helge Arz, together with additional data from other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, prove that this polarity reversal was a global event. Their results are published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. What is remarkable is the speed of the reversal: "The field geometry of reversed polarity, with field lines pointing into the opposite direction when compared to today's configuration, lasted for only about 440 years, and it was associated with a field strength that was only one quarter of today's field," explains Norbert Nowaczyk. "The actual polarity changes lasted only 250 years. In terms of geological time scales, that is very fast." During this period, the field was even weaker, with only 5% of today's field strength. As a consequence, Earth nearly completely lost its protection shield against hard cosmic rays, leading to a significantly increased radiation exposure.
The human RH locus appears to consist of two structural genes, D and CE, which map on the short arm p34-36 of chromosome 1 and specify a most complex system of blood-group genetic polymorphisms. Here we describe a family study of the Evans (also known as "D..") phenotype, a codominant trait associated with both qualitative and quantitative changes in D-antigen expression. A cataract-causing mutation was also inherited in this family and was apparently cotransmitted with Evans, suggesting a chromosomal linkage of these two otherwise unrelated traits. Southern blot analysis and allele-specific PCR showed the linkage of Evans with a SphI RFLP marker and the presence of a hybrid gene in the RH locus. To delineate the pattern of gene expression, the composition and structure of Rh-polypeptide transcripts were characterized by reverse transcriptase-PCR and nucleotide sequencing. This resulted in the identification of a novel Rh transcript expressed only in the Evans-positive erythroid cells. Sequence analysis showed that the transcript maintained a normal open reading frame but occurred as a CE-D-CE composite in which exons 2-6 of the CE gene were replaced by the homologous counterpart of the D gene. This hybrid gene was predicted to encode a CE-D-CE fusion protein whose surface expression correlates with the Evans phenotype. The mode and consequence of such a recombination event suggest the occurrence, in the RH locus, of a segmental DNA transfer via the mechanism of gene conversion. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1914783/
Genetic mapping helps to show that a mutation from RH positive to RH negative occurred somewhere in the Basque area of Europe maybe as much as 40,000 years ago. So what happened then? Ice Age Polarity Reversal Was a Global Event: Extremely Brief Reversal of Geomagnetic Field, Climate Variability,
and Super Volcano.
Such a global event greatly increases the possibilities of mutations and turning off of genes -- gene conversion and gene deletion, normal genetic processes -- a change in molecular structure. A repressed gene is turned off. This process is not externally "introduced"; it is a natural molecular process. Pseudo-scientific confabulation about Rh- produce no credible sources, but merely repeat internet memes or Belief Systems (BS).
Most mammals only have one RH gene, whose position corresponds to the human RHCE gene. The RHD gene arose from the duplication of an ancestral RH gene during mammalian evolution. An RHD deletion occurred9 during the evolution of hominids, so that many modern humans completely lack the RHD gene. This haplotype (glossary) is the leading cause of the D negative phenotype worldwide.
The human genome—our complete set of genetic information—includes thousands of genes. Some of the very first human genes to be identified were those that control blood type.
ABO blood groups and the Rh blood groups.
The Rh blood group is determined by a single gene with two alleles—positive and negative.
The positive (Rh+) allele is dominant, so person with Rh+/Rh+ or Rh+/Rh− are Rh- positive.
Individuals with two Rh− alleles are Rh-negative.
The ABO blood group has three alleles IA, IB, and i. Alleles IA and IB are codominant.
These alleles produce molecules known as antigens on the surface of red blood cells.
The RH alleles can be grouped according to their molecular structure. For the most part, these groups show point mutations (SNP, single nucleotide polymorphisms) which cause missense, nonsense, frame shift or splice site mutations (glossary).
Let’s discuss the Rhesus blood group system first. This system has multiple antigens, but the most important is encoded by the RHD locus, and is called RhD or simply Rh factor. The phenotypes associated with the RHD locus are either the presence of Rh factor (Rh positive) or the absence of the Rh factor (Rh negative).
RHD-CE-D hybrid alleles are often formed by gene conversion. http://www.nature.com/scitable/popular-students-page/68
Active genes can turn other genes on or off, including themselves.
Human traits are not always controlled by a single gene; sometimes the environment [epigenetics] may “create” a trait.
The examples of molecular changes and their effects on the D antigen (Table I) show how the D antigen phenotype correlates with the molecular structure.
NO MONKEYS, NO ALIENS, NO ENKI
The genes for bloodtype and Rh factor are not even on the same chromosomes.
Rh factor has NOTHING to do with "monkey genes". but comes from the animals used to test the process.
Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys share DNA but not gene regulatory mechanisms. Up to 40 percent of the differences in the expression or activity patterns of genes between humans, chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys can be explained by regulatory mechanisms that determine whether and how a gene's recipe for a protein is transcribed to the RNA molecule that carries the recipe instructions to the sites in cells where proteins are manufactured.
A given gene, in almost all cases, codes for a protein. When that gene is present and unmutated, the protein is present and effective. In the case of Rh factor, the protein is present ("Rh-positive") or not ("Rh-negative"). If you have one copy of the gene, you've got the protein, so it doesn't matter if you have one or two -- that's dominance. Only if you have NO copies of the gene can you be Rh-negative. Recessive traits are those that require the absence of a certain protein (or mutation) to show up; blue eyes, for instance, are recessive because it's only possible to have blue eyes in the (near-total) absence of melanin, so if you have any genes for producing melanin, your eyes won't be blue.
The clinically essential difference between Rhesus positive and Rhesus negative hinges on the presence or absence of the RhD protein in the erythrocyte membrane (D positive resp. D negative).
It is unusual for erythrocyte or other cell proteins to be lacking entirely in many humans. This particular genetic feature contributes to the strong antigenicity of the RhD protein. During duplication of the ancestral RH gene, two DNA segments were formed, known as the Rhesus box (Figure 1)9. The RHD deletion resulted from an unequal crossover (figure 3), which occurs when two DNA segments are highly homologous, such as those of the Rhesus box. The RHD negative haplotype commonest among Europeans is characterized by a hybrid Rhesus box. Subtle molecular differences between the various forms of the Rhesus box are used for genetic testing.
Aside from lack of the RhD protein, the D negative phenotype is caused mainly by a series of changes in the RhD protein, which in turn change the phenotype of the D antigen.
The RhD protein traverses the erythrocyte membrane several times, leaving only part of the protein exposed at the surface (Figure 2). If an amino acid is substituted in a portion of the RhD protein which is located at the outer surface of the erythrocyte membrane, single epitopes of the D antigen can be lost or new antigens can be formed.
The structure of the RH gene site facilitates gene conversions (figure 4)10. In the RHD gene some homologous exons of the RHCE gene will be inserted, forming a hybrid Rhesus allele which expresses a corresponding hybrid protein. This is how the D categories III to VI arose. The changes usually affect a long string of amino acids, which is always located on the erythrocyte surface.
If an amino acid substitution is located within the erythrocyte membrane or the cytoplasm, this will result in a weak D phenotype (figure 2)11. Integration of the RhD protein into the membrane will be hindered, leading to quantitative weakening of the D antigen. There is usually no qualitative change, and hence no anti-D immunization. The weak D type 1 is the commonest in Europe. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2535884/
TARGET GENES CAN BE TURNED OFF BY RADIATION AND EPIGENETICS
Lowered Field Strength > Geomagnetic Excursion > Increased Cosmic Ray & Solar Bombardment > Genetic Mutation
ScienceDaily — Some 41,000 years ago, a complete and rapid reversal of the geomagnetic field occurred. Magnetic studies of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences on sediment cores from the Black Sea show that during this period, during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north. Moreover, data obtained by the research team formed around GFZ researchers Dr. Norbert Nowaczyk and Prof. Helge Arz, together with additional data from other studies in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and Hawaii, prove that this polarity reversal was a global event. Their results are published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. What is remarkable is the speed of the reversal: "The field geometry of reversed polarity, with field lines pointing into the opposite direction when compared to today's configuration, lasted for only about 440 years, and it was associated with a field strength that was only one quarter of today's field," explains Norbert Nowaczyk. "The actual polarity changes lasted only 250 years. In terms of geological time scales, that is very fast." During this period, the field was even weaker, with only 5% of today's field strength. As a consequence, Earth nearly completely lost its protection shield against hard cosmic rays, leading to a significantly increased radiation exposure.
The human RH locus appears to consist of two structural genes, D and CE, which map on the short arm p34-36 of chromosome 1 and specify a most complex system of blood-group genetic polymorphisms. Here we describe a family study of the Evans (also known as "D..") phenotype, a codominant trait associated with both qualitative and quantitative changes in D-antigen expression. A cataract-causing mutation was also inherited in this family and was apparently cotransmitted with Evans, suggesting a chromosomal linkage of these two otherwise unrelated traits. Southern blot analysis and allele-specific PCR showed the linkage of Evans with a SphI RFLP marker and the presence of a hybrid gene in the RH locus. To delineate the pattern of gene expression, the composition and structure of Rh-polypeptide transcripts were characterized by reverse transcriptase-PCR and nucleotide sequencing. This resulted in the identification of a novel Rh transcript expressed only in the Evans-positive erythroid cells. Sequence analysis showed that the transcript maintained a normal open reading frame but occurred as a CE-D-CE composite in which exons 2-6 of the CE gene were replaced by the homologous counterpart of the D gene. This hybrid gene was predicted to encode a CE-D-CE fusion protein whose surface expression correlates with the Evans phenotype. The mode and consequence of such a recombination event suggest the occurrence, in the RH locus, of a segmental DNA transfer via the mechanism of gene conversion. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1914783/
Red-Headed Neanderthals: No Gene Flow to Humans
Though Neanderthals had red hair,
their specific mutation is not shared with red-headed humans.
Ancient DNA has been used to show aspects of Neanderthal appearance. A fragment of the gene for the melanocortin 1 receptor (MRC1) was sequenced using DNA from two Neanderthal specimens from Spain and Italy, El Sidrón 1252 and Monte Lessini (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2007). Neanderthals had a mutation in this receptor gene that has not been found in modern humans. The mutation changes an amino acid, making the resulting protein less efficient. Modern humans have other MCR1 variants that are also less active resulting in red hair and pale skin. The less active Neanderthal mutation probably also resulted in red hair and pale skin, as in modern humans.
The specific MCR1 mutation in Neanderthals has not been found in modern humans (or occurs extremely rarely in modern humans). This indicates that the two mutations for red hair and pale skin occurred independently and does not support the idea of gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans. Pale skin may have been advantageous to Neanderthals living in Europe because of the ability to synthesize vitamin D.
Though Neanderthals had red hair,
their specific mutation is not shared with red-headed humans.
Ancient DNA has been used to show aspects of Neanderthal appearance. A fragment of the gene for the melanocortin 1 receptor (MRC1) was sequenced using DNA from two Neanderthal specimens from Spain and Italy, El Sidrón 1252 and Monte Lessini (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2007). Neanderthals had a mutation in this receptor gene that has not been found in modern humans. The mutation changes an amino acid, making the resulting protein less efficient. Modern humans have other MCR1 variants that are also less active resulting in red hair and pale skin. The less active Neanderthal mutation probably also resulted in red hair and pale skin, as in modern humans.
The specific MCR1 mutation in Neanderthals has not been found in modern humans (or occurs extremely rarely in modern humans). This indicates that the two mutations for red hair and pale skin occurred independently and does not support the idea of gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans. Pale skin may have been advantageous to Neanderthals living in Europe because of the ability to synthesize vitamin D.
Ancient Humans Bred with Completely Unknown Species
A new study presented to the Royal Society meeting on ancient DNA in London last week has revealed a dramatic finding – the genome of one of our ancient ancestors, the Denisovans, contains a segment of DNA that seems to have come from another species that is currently unknown to science. The discovery suggests that there was rampant interbreeding between ancient human species in Europe and Asia more than 30,000 years ago. But, far more significant was the finding that they also mated with a mystery species from Asia – one that is neither human nor Neanderthal.
Scientists launched into a flurry of discussion and debate upon hearing the study results and immediately began speculating about what this unknown species could be. Some have suggested that a group may have branched off to Asia from the Homo heidelbernensis, who resided in Africa about half a million years ago. They are believed to be the ancestors of Europe's Neanderthals.
However others, such as Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the London Natural History Museum, admitted that they “don’t have the faintest idea” what the mystery species could be.
Traces of the unknown new genome were detected in two teeth and a finger bone of a Denisovan, which was discovered in a Siberian cave. There is not much data available about the appearance of Denisovans due to lack of their fossils' availability, but the geneticists and researchers succeeded in arranging their entire genome very precisely.
"What it begins to suggest is that we're looking at a 'Lord of the Rings'-type world - that there were many hominid populations," Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London.
The question is now: who were these mystery people that the Denisovans were breeding with?
By April Holloway
A new study presented to the Royal Society meeting on ancient DNA in London last week has revealed a dramatic finding – the genome of one of our ancient ancestors, the Denisovans, contains a segment of DNA that seems to have come from another species that is currently unknown to science. The discovery suggests that there was rampant interbreeding between ancient human species in Europe and Asia more than 30,000 years ago. But, far more significant was the finding that they also mated with a mystery species from Asia – one that is neither human nor Neanderthal.
Scientists launched into a flurry of discussion and debate upon hearing the study results and immediately began speculating about what this unknown species could be. Some have suggested that a group may have branched off to Asia from the Homo heidelbernensis, who resided in Africa about half a million years ago. They are believed to be the ancestors of Europe's Neanderthals.
However others, such as Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the London Natural History Museum, admitted that they “don’t have the faintest idea” what the mystery species could be.
Traces of the unknown new genome were detected in two teeth and a finger bone of a Denisovan, which was discovered in a Siberian cave. There is not much data available about the appearance of Denisovans due to lack of their fossils' availability, but the geneticists and researchers succeeded in arranging their entire genome very precisely.
"What it begins to suggest is that we're looking at a 'Lord of the Rings'-type world - that there were many hominid populations," Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London.
The question is now: who were these mystery people that the Denisovans were breeding with?
By April Holloway
Debunking the Bloodline
Myths and Memes of the Genetic Matrix and Royal Lines
by Iona Miller
Before anyone leaps to meme-like conclusions about Reptilians, Anunnaki, Merovingians, Templars, Gnostics, Illuminati, Pendragons, ancient aliens, holy blood, grail lines, god-kings, or "Luciferian consciousness," they should find out if they themselves carry such remnants in their own genes. They may be strangling in their own roots.
This author has traced her own bloodline back to Sumeria, and is an advisor to a peer-reviewed DNA journal, and thus speaks from some experience. Genealogy has become the world's biggest hobby, second only to the subject of sex online. The underground stream has spawned many underground scenes of varying credibility.
The widely misunderstood Bloodline "conspiracy" looks different from inside than outside its own culture. Those actively pursuing their royal genealogies, or involved in the numerous organizations and loose-knit heritage groups, often hold radically different viewpoints on the subject than those sensationalistic articles generated and endlessly recycled online.
They tend to be fascinated with certain eras, issues, or philosophies—with magical personas, illustrious or nefarious ancestors, or alternative lifestyles. Some are metaphysical, spiritual, or deeply religious. Most are “lone wolves,” finding meaning only they value. The other side is profoundly skeptical, antagonistic or political, considering the bloodline malignant and controlling—a nonhuman cabal of evil intent. Clearly, it means many things to many people.
Those who disbelieve the Grail paradigm might be surprised when it turns up in their family history. That is the best and perhaps only way to truly grasp its deeper meaning—from the inside out. You can read the history of the world in your own genealogical lines, in the lives of your great-grandparents. Finding four to five generations is enough to plug into the World Tree.
Exploiting the Gullible
Most people with any interest in the bloodline are invested in some theory—perhaps, in ancient aliens or hybridization scenarios, like the Zecharia Sitchin Sumerian story. Political viewpoints range from monarchist to anarchist ideas about ruling elites, who have a stranglehold on social control and the bloodline.
David Icke was foremost in promoting his theory that the elite are shape-shifting Reptilians. He even accused his ex-wife of being the same during their divorce. His hysteria has earned him big money. Salacious stories tend to sell, but it is just demonization and projection. You have to look at the effects, not the content of the tale. Human oppression doesn't need aliens to exist.
It doesn't absolve sociopathic behavior by governments or leaders, but Icke is the “pot calling the kettle black” while exploiting the public itself. If Icke really cared about humanity, would he be charging for his so-called wisdom in the spiritual supermarket such as duplicitous, charismatic tricksters do?
So, who is the shapeshifting teller of tales? Linking aliens, UFOs, and gov-crime conveniently expands the potential audience. Ironically, such appeals probably do ignite the reptilian brainstem and primal fears. The audience stares at Icke like deer in the headlights. But all these views about the bloodline miss the point, which is experiential and may first appear as a "calling" or mission, unfolding like Joseph Campbell’s hero motif. Rather than an outside opinion, it’s a deeply integrative experience.
Rational facts are unlikely to dissuade anyone in a mystic marriage with mythical and emotional appeals. They don't want to hear contrary evidence because they are highly invested in their own identities and certain narratives through such beliefs, right or wrong. Those who are ego-invested have an even higher stake in being somehow 'special'.
It's All Relative
All of humanity is related many times over. Ancestors are those people you directly descend from, (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, etc.); not extended family members.
Direct-line research is genealogy focused on one's direct-line ancestors. However, as people are separated by more generations, their genetic relatedness plummets exponentially. With twenty-five years per generation, you had around three billion ancestors at the signing of the Magna Carta, one hundred billion during the Norman invasion, and two quintillion when the Roman Empire fell. Earth did not contain a fraction of that population then; so we must be related to everyone on earth many times over.
After only a few generations any personal genealogy links to that of the World Tree, mirroring the process of our personal unconscious embedded in the deeper collective unconscious. Knowing your genealogy brings that invisible information into consciousness. Sometimes that knowledge is shocking, destabilizing, or permanently alters one's sense of self. There is something to knowing exactly who you are and where you come from, relatively speaking.
Later monarchs descend many times over from earlier ones. Research suggests that everyone in the West is descended from Charlemagne; the entire world is descended from the Ancient Egyptian royal house; almost everyone from Confucius and Genghis Khan. Probably sixty percent or more Americans are descended from kings. These findings do not necessarily have any implications for our DNA. Anthropologists claim everyone on earth is a 40th cousin. Any two people can find at least one common ancestor from about 800 AD.
Genetic genealogy is the application of genetics to traditional genealogy. Genetic genealogy involves the use of genealogical DNA testing to determine the level of genetic relationship between individuals and archaic tribes. It provides evidence of tribal migrations, but none about the actual people in genealogical lines, much less their names or history.
To descend from someone does not mean you necessarily inherit any DNA from them. These findings do not conflict with the idea that most of your DNA is inherited from your local area. Descending from the Pharaohs does not mean detecting it in your DNA. In fact, there may be no evidence at all of these findings in humanity's DNA. Yet the findings can still be true.
Game of Thrones
The Da Vinci Code’s Rose Lines are revealed in the royal genealogies with which it is interwoven. The Grail is the source of life, of generativity. To transcend our small selves we need bigger stories.
The deep context of our global heritage is a mythic perspective suited to our age, culture, and sensibilities. Symbols are the currency of consciousness, and the highest symbol and value is the Grail. It carries different meaning for each individual in their quest for self-knowledge.
Conspiracy fans project their fascination or animosity for the Bloodline meme onto individuals and groups. The psyche tends to fill in the blanks in our conscious understanding with imaginal and mythic material that is at best symbolic or metaphorical, not literal.
Many claim reincarnations of the famous, or being Mary Magdalene, Jesus, the Antichrist, the Men Who Would Be King, or various archetypal characters. Others bury themselves in deciphering hidden codes or endless pilgrimage searching for treasure or relics, even bodies. All the symbolism of the unconscious can mobilize in a fugue, overwhelming the ego. Different memes (popular disinformation; viral ideas) capture our attention, sometimes to the point of obsession.
Gullible followers increase because people prefer fairy tales to pragmatic truth or statistical data. The appeal of unsubstantiated or daisy-chained allegations is largely emotional. Many seek only corroborating evidence while ignoring basic research which shows different results, preferring confabulations, misconceptions and self-delusion. Conspiratorial politics or bloodline paranoia sensationalizes the fact that most Presidential candidates trace to related families, failing to realize that millions of others with Colonial or Revolutionary families have the same heritage. This "plot" involves an enormous amount of tertiary people who carry the bloodline with or without any knowledge.
Tired Memes
Tired memes are repeated over and over again, as if that validates them. They cluster around wild tales of the Anunnaki and mythic beings, Rh- blood, and allegations of racial difference, etc. Such notions originate with those unfamiliar with genealogy, their historical descent, or the basics of biology.
Our early ancestors had only type O blood. Around 40KYA mutations likely occurred creating A and B blood types. Types A and B blood are from dominant genes that rapidly spread through the population. Genetic mapping reveals a mutation from Rh positive to Rh negative in the Basque area of Europe around 40,000 years ago. Those mutations likely created blood types A and B.
What could cause such mutations in the Upper Paleolithic era? In the Laschamp event, a short reversal of Earth’s geomagnetic field 41,000 years ago, our magnetic shield went down to 5%, exposing humanity to unusual amounts of cosmic radiation. The transition lasted only 250 years, resulting in greater radiation reaching the Earth followed by a population explosion in a warm spell. During the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north.
Genes mutate all the time—useful, harmful or neutral in their effects. Often they simply turn a gene off. In large populations, even helpful mutations tend to get “swamped” by non-mutant genes and vanish over time.
DNA tells us the stories of our forebearers from the first human who walked on the earth to YOU. It tells us whether our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals, while other regions show migratory paths. It all depends on what you want to know and your ability to interpret the genetic code. No scientific definitions for genetic ethnicity are universally accepted.
We determine genetic relationships among people by comparing sequences of nucleotides in their DNA. Even with both a pedigree and genetic genealogy tests, the results require interpretation. Different members of the same family can display different features. Scythians, Saxons, Gauls, Picts, Franks, Nordics, Iberians, and Celts merge in the melting pot.
University of Arizona geneticists discovered that the oldest known branch of the human Y chromosome (300,000 years) is the hereditary factor determining male sex. It passes unchanged from father to son. Yet, there is no exclusive or conclusive DNA signature for the Grail lineage, and there are gaps in the legends, histories, and pedigrees that require interpretation, if not leaps of imagination. This is as true for those of unbroken dynastic Houses as it is for those of ‘mixed blood,’ since both refer to the same recognized source material.
Two Y chromosomes carry the same mutation if they share a common paternal ancestor at some point in the past. The more mutations that differ between two Y chromosomes the farther back in time that common ancestor lived. Mitochondrial DNA is passed only through the female line. Mitochondria are a symbiotic organism, a separate life form from ourselves. They can live 15 generations. Your 15th great-grandparents' living cells are alive in you.
Most British ancestors were hunter-gatherers from 15,000 -7,500 years ago. Basque STRs (genetic markers used to identify a DNA sequence) reveal 21 founding clusters, which could only have arrived direct from the Basque country. Their descendant twigs are unique to the British Isles.
Grail houses can have different Y haplogroups (paternal) as well as different mtDNA (maternal) signatures. Typical medical problems of a line don’t all appear in one individual. A single DNA change led to the blue, green, hazel, and other ‘mood eye’ colors. While the “red gene” is significant, it may or may not distinguish noble ancestors. Neanderthals also had red hair, but studies show the mutation responsible for this differs from the cause of red hair in modern humans. Genetic drift favors the fair skinned who could absorb more Vitamin D in less-sunny northern climes. It helps in heat retention.
Research shows that inbreeding changes the shape of the genetic covariance matrix. Inbreeding of ancient lines historically included brother-sister marriage for conserving sovereignty, wealth and social control in the same families. Ancestors bred their horses and themselves in the same way.
Divine Pride
Finding their noble lines, many leap to royal ego trips, declaring themselves princes of their imaginal realms, seeking spurious titles. Others fancy themselves channels of ancient ancestors such as Mary Magdalene or even Jesus. While such identifications have always been popular, they may be no more than misguided inner authority.
The unconscious psyche can produce great wisdom; it can also churn out endless rubbish or trickster distortions. Ego inflation is an overexpansion of the personality through identification with an archetype or, in pathological cases, with a historical or religious figure, which exceeds individual limitations.
No credible DNA experts support such memes. Mystification abounds among those who don't know the basics of genetics or genealogy, and are persuaded by oft-repeated but unprovable tales told with great enthusiasm and gravity, as if that makes them more reliable. An individual living today would carry only three thousands of 1% of the DNA of an ancestor who was “pure” anything 15 generations (360 years) ago. With today’s technology, this is simply untraceable in autosomal DNA. (Miller)
Direct Ancestors
Life and consciousness are the ultimate emergent phenomena, but we still don't know their real origin, which remains veiled in mystery. We are cosmic psychophysical beings. Our core reaches down into the microcosm of quantum dynamics and the still center of Zero-Point.
Genome sequencing shows that modern humans interbred with other now-extinct species, including Neanderthal, Denisovian, and an unknown Asian species, possibly Homo heidelbergensis. The relic biology of other hominids remains part of our genome (Nature). Western European DNA has shown up in Siberians and Native Americans.
You have ancestors from whom you have no DNA. Your individual DNA fingerprint depends on how the chromosomes line up at conception. Some traits from both parents’ potentials will be there, while others get excluded. Some siblings can be redheads, others not; some can have family medical problems, others not; some may be Rh neg., others not. We may find things we never imagined and find no evidence for traits known within our lineage.
In genealogy, "direct line" includes parent to child, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. Blood relations refer to the Underground Stream, the Red River of Memories that flows within us. The Blood is real and it's fresh; it flows in your veins.
By contrast, collateral line is a term that describes family relationships not in direct descent, (siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc). Proving a direct line of descent is generally required for membership in heritage societies. Just seven generations back we have over 200 people in our immediate, or father-mother, grandfather-grandmother line.
Genetic matrix includes the complete set of instincts and response patterns responsible for the survival of your two genetic streams in the first place. These inherent patterns are what Jung called the Collective Unconscious. Genealogy functions as a therapeutic portal, much like dreams or symptoms, allowing us to enter the imaginal dimension.
Epigenetics is the heritable changes in gene activity not caused by changes in the DNA sequence, but rooted in our ancestors' experience. Genes are expressed or silenced depending on famines or fortunes.
Genealogy is about identity. It is an art, a quest for truth within, mobilizing the soul for creative self-expression, self-discovery and self-healing. Much benefit and fulfillment comes simply by remembering, writing, recording, sharing, painting, enacting or otherwise birthing into the physical world. Genealogy takes tremendous effort, affecting the psyche with both known and unknown historical and imaginal elements. It has its own magic, alchemy, and synchronicities.
Some seek social status through their genealogies when other avenues elude them. In search of their identity, they wind up finding the Shadow. Others use it to build a persona or mystique that becomes their main way of connecting in the world, an excessive commitment to a social mask or psychological armor. Recovery, the aim of individuation, means re-adaptation in outer life.
Genetics demonstrates that traits are not inherited preferentially from the ancestral matrix. While you may have a demonstrable royal line, you inherit far more genetics from commoners who did not have their lines recorded. While it is true that the Y-haplotype is passed directly from father to son, generation after generation, we all also inherit the even more persistent mitochondrial DNA from our maternal ancestors, up to 400 generations, or so.
With mtDNA the surname changes each generation. Every once in a while a mutation—a random, natural (and usually harmless) change—occurs in that sequence, like a spelling mistake. After one of these mutations occurs a woman passes it on to her daughters, and her daughters' daughters, and so on. Sons also inherit mtDNA, but the sons do not pass it on. Geneticists use these markers to construct one global mitochondrial family tree.
Even siblings may or may not inherit the slightest bit of any given ancestor or line. Thus, there is no single haplotype for the royal lines, nor any single identifying gene of that inheritance. Those with a royal genealogy may not have single "royal" gene in their genome, making any claims of extraordinary inheritance moot.
No one knows where Rh negative originates. Rhesus negative blood simply means that the blood doesn't have any Rhesus antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. Absence of a protein does not have to originate from anywhere. Rh+ has the antigen; Rh negative does not. The gene quit working.
There is nothing alien here, no alien genes present. Actually the “absence” of our own genes produces the RhD antigen. Transport of CO2 is the ancestral function of Rh proteins. It potentially helped breathing in northern climes. The role of RhD, is to help maintain the flexible, flattened shape of the red cell.
Plausibly, a mutation on the first chromosome rendered Rh negative individuals incapable of producing functional Rhesus proteins. Few have it because it is a recessive trait. Five percent of the global population is currently Rh negative. It rises to 15% in the UK and USA, and to 50% in the Basques who descend from indigenous Paleolithic inhabitants.
Conceivably, only one sibling in a dozen might be Rh negative, descended from Rh-positive parents. Even siblings get varied genetic packages and may not have genes from all the ethnicities or ancestors of their genealogical lines. There are different ethnic signatures. Some siblings might carry the signature of Native ancestry; others not.
As a recessive trait, Rh negative blood may or may not express in a family. It could be ten or more generations since anyone had Rh negative blood in his/her family. To express it, both parents must carry the recessive gene. Two parents who have O positive blood could easily have an O negative child. Most O negative children have parents who are positive. Some or perhaps none of a couple's children may inherit the trait. Siblings can be mixed Rh negative with other blood types that are dominant. Some people wrongly believe that O negative blood is "pure" or "alien.” Every group overlaps genetically with every other.
There is no singular gene, mutation, allele, STR or SNP that tells the whole story. There are clusters of mutations that show deep relationship patterns of regional origin in some individuals. There is no DNA report that is 100% conclusive. They use the statistical “educated guess.” Many families conduct their own DNA research projects.
Statistical sampling flaws can lead to misinterpretations, based on too small samplings and comparison studies. So, our own conclusions about our own DNA tests are, in part, interpretations of an interpretation. We can only draw inferences about the past based on the patterns observed in human DNA. And this is what keeps our quest alive.
Curated Lines
Most Europeans descend largely from farmers who migrated out of the Middle East 9,000 years ago. As offspring left their parents’ farms and moved into new territory, they interbred with existing hunter-gatherer populations. This produced gradients of genetic change radiating from the Middle East.
Only in mountainous areas unattractive to farmers—the Pyrenees of the Basques, for example—were the genes of the indigenous peoples left intact. Other historical events influenced the European gene pool. For example, a genetic trail leads from the area north of the Black and Caspian Seas into the rest of Europe. This trail helped spread the descendants of nomadic warriors and herders, who first domesticated the horse about 4,000 B.C.
Again, it requires interpretation. It is a truism that genealogy without proofs is speculative, and even those lines accepted as "best practice" in genealogy have gaps and presumptions that ultimately lead back to mythical progenitors, like Wotan, Hercules, or Aphrodite—and yes, even Cain. Any viable genealogy must be curated with citations and evidence at every stage to be reliable.
Once you locate a ‘gateway ancestor’ —one who links your family to a known noble ancestry—the door opens to a world of recorded and published pedigrees that can lead back to royalty. These gateways provide a personal link to the highly inbred medieval world, in the form of descents from medieval kings, queens, popes, crusaders, troubadours, heroes, villains, and saints.
Early immigrants with traceable royal ancestry are the best ‘gateways,’ but not really out of any class-oriented prejudice. Among early immigrants from Europe to the Americas, individuals with noble connections are likely to be traceable to a far larger number of ancestors, and thus sustain more interest and offer more connections.
Gateway ancestors link your family to published pedigrees that can lead back to royalty. Chances are the line from your gateway ancestor leads to Charlemagne. Most of these ascents go through the English or French kings, such as Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine back to the Merovingians.
Do the Math and Get Over It
Most Americans with sizable New England Yankee, mid-Atlantic Quaker, or Southern "planter" ancestry are descended from medieval royals—kings of England, Scotland, and France, especially. Following those lines back into the mists of pre-history we find direct links to all so-called racial divisions. Most of our ancestors will remain "invisible." This is the main reason people emphasize ancestral nobles.
The ancient royal lines include Asian Siberians and Han Chinese dynasties, sub-Saharan African, Jewish, and Muslim lines among the direct ancestors. Some will have Turkish, Persian, and Indian lines. Ultimately, this means 'race' is an illusion, other than the human race. The math backs this up, indicating we are all related within perhaps forty generations.
So you find you come from royalty—get over it! The Pyramid Theory, a doubling of ancestors each generation back, claims you have 2048 ancestors by the 12th generation past, and possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades. By Generation 40, you would have more than one trillion ancestors!
We are at the end of a long and winding genetic journey that continues after and through us. We are probably all connected by the 25th great-grandparents. There is a great possibility that we are descendants (or are related) from almost everyone alive some seven hundred years ago. Many of those ancestors are the same persons. The genealogical evidence shows that many of the families intermarried for generations. By the 12th generation you have possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades.
Yet, somehow a determined gene can survive intact through all those descendants and become a particle of memory that will give you a dejá vu once in a while. Ancestral memories may not be of actual events—it is not to be confused with the idea of past life or reincarnation—but of reactive response patterns and emotional states brought about by environment. The past has gone and the future has yet to come. All we ever have is the present.
Mixed Blood
So, how do we relate to those we perceive as kin? Anthropologist Nancy Thornhill contends that the prohibitions against incestuous marriages in most societies are not public-health measures to reduce birth defects, but are the society's way of fighting back against extended families.
Successful coalitions and charlatans may pose as "kin.” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker warns misperceived kinship makes people vulnerable to manipulation and cultish mind control: kinship is in the mind of the beholder. This kind of mind control is a strong temptation to cults and religions that want to foster cohesion among people who are not closely related.
It isn't merely our noble genealogy, shared with millions, that makes us who we are. What is unique is our personal reaction to such knowledge and how our relationship with it evolves as we assimilate and integrate that expanded awareness—the Mystery of the whole matter. We are all in it together.
We need to know genealogy much like we need to know physics and psychology to comprehend what matter is, as well as what makes us matter. We have thousands of ancestor lines that are not preserved, making the small slice of royal descent largely archetypal as well as material. The part stands for the Whole—the cosmic process of Big History.
References
The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/04/the-genetic-archaeology-of-race/2180/
Banyan, Will, Paranoia Magazine, http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2013/01/the-tangled-web-icke-weaves-who-is-behind-david-ickes-freedom-foundation/
Bryner, Jeanna, One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes, January 31, 2008,
http://www.livescience.com/9578-common-ancestor-blue-eyes.html
“Cosmic rays reveal event in Earth's magnetic field history,” Nov 29, 2012, Journal of Geophysical Research, http://phys.org/news/2012-11-cosmic-rays-reveal-event-earth.html
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Jungian Genealogy,” http://jungiangenealogy.weebly.com/
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Sangreality Now,” http://sangreality.weebly.com/index.html
Nowaczyk, Dr. Norbert and Prof. Helge Arz, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Oppenheimer, Stephen, “Myths of British ancestry,” October 2006, Prospect, https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestryrevisited/#.Uo1R5HcvY_M
Pinker, Steven, 2007, “Strangled by Roots,” http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2007.06.08_thenewrepublic.pdf
Stolte, Daniel, "Human Y chromosome much older than previously thought,” American Journal of Human Genetics, March 4, 2013 http://phys.org/news/2013-03-human-chromosome-older-previously-thought.html#jCp
Yong, Ed, “Americas’ natives have European roots The oldest known genome of a modern human solves long-standing puzzles about the New World's genetic heritage,” Nature, 20 November 2013, www.nature.com/news/americas-natives-have-european-roots-1.14213
About the Author Iona Miller is a nonfiction writer for the academic and popular press, clinical hypnotherapist, and multimedia artist. She is an advisor to DNA Decipher Journal, and other scientific journals. Her main site is http://ionamiller.weebly.com.
Myths and Memes of the Genetic Matrix and Royal Lines
by Iona Miller
Before anyone leaps to meme-like conclusions about Reptilians, Anunnaki, Merovingians, Templars, Gnostics, Illuminati, Pendragons, ancient aliens, holy blood, grail lines, god-kings, or "Luciferian consciousness," they should find out if they themselves carry such remnants in their own genes. They may be strangling in their own roots.
This author has traced her own bloodline back to Sumeria, and is an advisor to a peer-reviewed DNA journal, and thus speaks from some experience. Genealogy has become the world's biggest hobby, second only to the subject of sex online. The underground stream has spawned many underground scenes of varying credibility.
The widely misunderstood Bloodline "conspiracy" looks different from inside than outside its own culture. Those actively pursuing their royal genealogies, or involved in the numerous organizations and loose-knit heritage groups, often hold radically different viewpoints on the subject than those sensationalistic articles generated and endlessly recycled online.
They tend to be fascinated with certain eras, issues, or philosophies—with magical personas, illustrious or nefarious ancestors, or alternative lifestyles. Some are metaphysical, spiritual, or deeply religious. Most are “lone wolves,” finding meaning only they value. The other side is profoundly skeptical, antagonistic or political, considering the bloodline malignant and controlling—a nonhuman cabal of evil intent. Clearly, it means many things to many people.
Those who disbelieve the Grail paradigm might be surprised when it turns up in their family history. That is the best and perhaps only way to truly grasp its deeper meaning—from the inside out. You can read the history of the world in your own genealogical lines, in the lives of your great-grandparents. Finding four to five generations is enough to plug into the World Tree.
Exploiting the Gullible
Most people with any interest in the bloodline are invested in some theory—perhaps, in ancient aliens or hybridization scenarios, like the Zecharia Sitchin Sumerian story. Political viewpoints range from monarchist to anarchist ideas about ruling elites, who have a stranglehold on social control and the bloodline.
David Icke was foremost in promoting his theory that the elite are shape-shifting Reptilians. He even accused his ex-wife of being the same during their divorce. His hysteria has earned him big money. Salacious stories tend to sell, but it is just demonization and projection. You have to look at the effects, not the content of the tale. Human oppression doesn't need aliens to exist.
It doesn't absolve sociopathic behavior by governments or leaders, but Icke is the “pot calling the kettle black” while exploiting the public itself. If Icke really cared about humanity, would he be charging for his so-called wisdom in the spiritual supermarket such as duplicitous, charismatic tricksters do?
So, who is the shapeshifting teller of tales? Linking aliens, UFOs, and gov-crime conveniently expands the potential audience. Ironically, such appeals probably do ignite the reptilian brainstem and primal fears. The audience stares at Icke like deer in the headlights. But all these views about the bloodline miss the point, which is experiential and may first appear as a "calling" or mission, unfolding like Joseph Campbell’s hero motif. Rather than an outside opinion, it’s a deeply integrative experience.
Rational facts are unlikely to dissuade anyone in a mystic marriage with mythical and emotional appeals. They don't want to hear contrary evidence because they are highly invested in their own identities and certain narratives through such beliefs, right or wrong. Those who are ego-invested have an even higher stake in being somehow 'special'.
It's All Relative
All of humanity is related many times over. Ancestors are those people you directly descend from, (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, etc.); not extended family members.
Direct-line research is genealogy focused on one's direct-line ancestors. However, as people are separated by more generations, their genetic relatedness plummets exponentially. With twenty-five years per generation, you had around three billion ancestors at the signing of the Magna Carta, one hundred billion during the Norman invasion, and two quintillion when the Roman Empire fell. Earth did not contain a fraction of that population then; so we must be related to everyone on earth many times over.
After only a few generations any personal genealogy links to that of the World Tree, mirroring the process of our personal unconscious embedded in the deeper collective unconscious. Knowing your genealogy brings that invisible information into consciousness. Sometimes that knowledge is shocking, destabilizing, or permanently alters one's sense of self. There is something to knowing exactly who you are and where you come from, relatively speaking.
Later monarchs descend many times over from earlier ones. Research suggests that everyone in the West is descended from Charlemagne; the entire world is descended from the Ancient Egyptian royal house; almost everyone from Confucius and Genghis Khan. Probably sixty percent or more Americans are descended from kings. These findings do not necessarily have any implications for our DNA. Anthropologists claim everyone on earth is a 40th cousin. Any two people can find at least one common ancestor from about 800 AD.
Genetic genealogy is the application of genetics to traditional genealogy. Genetic genealogy involves the use of genealogical DNA testing to determine the level of genetic relationship between individuals and archaic tribes. It provides evidence of tribal migrations, but none about the actual people in genealogical lines, much less their names or history.
To descend from someone does not mean you necessarily inherit any DNA from them. These findings do not conflict with the idea that most of your DNA is inherited from your local area. Descending from the Pharaohs does not mean detecting it in your DNA. In fact, there may be no evidence at all of these findings in humanity's DNA. Yet the findings can still be true.
Game of Thrones
The Da Vinci Code’s Rose Lines are revealed in the royal genealogies with which it is interwoven. The Grail is the source of life, of generativity. To transcend our small selves we need bigger stories.
The deep context of our global heritage is a mythic perspective suited to our age, culture, and sensibilities. Symbols are the currency of consciousness, and the highest symbol and value is the Grail. It carries different meaning for each individual in their quest for self-knowledge.
Conspiracy fans project their fascination or animosity for the Bloodline meme onto individuals and groups. The psyche tends to fill in the blanks in our conscious understanding with imaginal and mythic material that is at best symbolic or metaphorical, not literal.
Many claim reincarnations of the famous, or being Mary Magdalene, Jesus, the Antichrist, the Men Who Would Be King, or various archetypal characters. Others bury themselves in deciphering hidden codes or endless pilgrimage searching for treasure or relics, even bodies. All the symbolism of the unconscious can mobilize in a fugue, overwhelming the ego. Different memes (popular disinformation; viral ideas) capture our attention, sometimes to the point of obsession.
Gullible followers increase because people prefer fairy tales to pragmatic truth or statistical data. The appeal of unsubstantiated or daisy-chained allegations is largely emotional. Many seek only corroborating evidence while ignoring basic research which shows different results, preferring confabulations, misconceptions and self-delusion. Conspiratorial politics or bloodline paranoia sensationalizes the fact that most Presidential candidates trace to related families, failing to realize that millions of others with Colonial or Revolutionary families have the same heritage. This "plot" involves an enormous amount of tertiary people who carry the bloodline with or without any knowledge.
Tired Memes
Tired memes are repeated over and over again, as if that validates them. They cluster around wild tales of the Anunnaki and mythic beings, Rh- blood, and allegations of racial difference, etc. Such notions originate with those unfamiliar with genealogy, their historical descent, or the basics of biology.
Our early ancestors had only type O blood. Around 40KYA mutations likely occurred creating A and B blood types. Types A and B blood are from dominant genes that rapidly spread through the population. Genetic mapping reveals a mutation from Rh positive to Rh negative in the Basque area of Europe around 40,000 years ago. Those mutations likely created blood types A and B.
What could cause such mutations in the Upper Paleolithic era? In the Laschamp event, a short reversal of Earth’s geomagnetic field 41,000 years ago, our magnetic shield went down to 5%, exposing humanity to unusual amounts of cosmic radiation. The transition lasted only 250 years, resulting in greater radiation reaching the Earth followed by a population explosion in a warm spell. During the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have pointed to the south instead of north.
Genes mutate all the time—useful, harmful or neutral in their effects. Often they simply turn a gene off. In large populations, even helpful mutations tend to get “swamped” by non-mutant genes and vanish over time.
DNA tells us the stories of our forebearers from the first human who walked on the earth to YOU. It tells us whether our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals, while other regions show migratory paths. It all depends on what you want to know and your ability to interpret the genetic code. No scientific definitions for genetic ethnicity are universally accepted.
We determine genetic relationships among people by comparing sequences of nucleotides in their DNA. Even with both a pedigree and genetic genealogy tests, the results require interpretation. Different members of the same family can display different features. Scythians, Saxons, Gauls, Picts, Franks, Nordics, Iberians, and Celts merge in the melting pot.
University of Arizona geneticists discovered that the oldest known branch of the human Y chromosome (300,000 years) is the hereditary factor determining male sex. It passes unchanged from father to son. Yet, there is no exclusive or conclusive DNA signature for the Grail lineage, and there are gaps in the legends, histories, and pedigrees that require interpretation, if not leaps of imagination. This is as true for those of unbroken dynastic Houses as it is for those of ‘mixed blood,’ since both refer to the same recognized source material.
Two Y chromosomes carry the same mutation if they share a common paternal ancestor at some point in the past. The more mutations that differ between two Y chromosomes the farther back in time that common ancestor lived. Mitochondrial DNA is passed only through the female line. Mitochondria are a symbiotic organism, a separate life form from ourselves. They can live 15 generations. Your 15th great-grandparents' living cells are alive in you.
Most British ancestors were hunter-gatherers from 15,000 -7,500 years ago. Basque STRs (genetic markers used to identify a DNA sequence) reveal 21 founding clusters, which could only have arrived direct from the Basque country. Their descendant twigs are unique to the British Isles.
Grail houses can have different Y haplogroups (paternal) as well as different mtDNA (maternal) signatures. Typical medical problems of a line don’t all appear in one individual. A single DNA change led to the blue, green, hazel, and other ‘mood eye’ colors. While the “red gene” is significant, it may or may not distinguish noble ancestors. Neanderthals also had red hair, but studies show the mutation responsible for this differs from the cause of red hair in modern humans. Genetic drift favors the fair skinned who could absorb more Vitamin D in less-sunny northern climes. It helps in heat retention.
Research shows that inbreeding changes the shape of the genetic covariance matrix. Inbreeding of ancient lines historically included brother-sister marriage for conserving sovereignty, wealth and social control in the same families. Ancestors bred their horses and themselves in the same way.
Divine Pride
Finding their noble lines, many leap to royal ego trips, declaring themselves princes of their imaginal realms, seeking spurious titles. Others fancy themselves channels of ancient ancestors such as Mary Magdalene or even Jesus. While such identifications have always been popular, they may be no more than misguided inner authority.
The unconscious psyche can produce great wisdom; it can also churn out endless rubbish or trickster distortions. Ego inflation is an overexpansion of the personality through identification with an archetype or, in pathological cases, with a historical or religious figure, which exceeds individual limitations.
No credible DNA experts support such memes. Mystification abounds among those who don't know the basics of genetics or genealogy, and are persuaded by oft-repeated but unprovable tales told with great enthusiasm and gravity, as if that makes them more reliable. An individual living today would carry only three thousands of 1% of the DNA of an ancestor who was “pure” anything 15 generations (360 years) ago. With today’s technology, this is simply untraceable in autosomal DNA. (Miller)
Direct Ancestors
Life and consciousness are the ultimate emergent phenomena, but we still don't know their real origin, which remains veiled in mystery. We are cosmic psychophysical beings. Our core reaches down into the microcosm of quantum dynamics and the still center of Zero-Point.
Genome sequencing shows that modern humans interbred with other now-extinct species, including Neanderthal, Denisovian, and an unknown Asian species, possibly Homo heidelbergensis. The relic biology of other hominids remains part of our genome (Nature). Western European DNA has shown up in Siberians and Native Americans.
You have ancestors from whom you have no DNA. Your individual DNA fingerprint depends on how the chromosomes line up at conception. Some traits from both parents’ potentials will be there, while others get excluded. Some siblings can be redheads, others not; some can have family medical problems, others not; some may be Rh neg., others not. We may find things we never imagined and find no evidence for traits known within our lineage.
In genealogy, "direct line" includes parent to child, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. Blood relations refer to the Underground Stream, the Red River of Memories that flows within us. The Blood is real and it's fresh; it flows in your veins.
By contrast, collateral line is a term that describes family relationships not in direct descent, (siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc). Proving a direct line of descent is generally required for membership in heritage societies. Just seven generations back we have over 200 people in our immediate, or father-mother, grandfather-grandmother line.
Genetic matrix includes the complete set of instincts and response patterns responsible for the survival of your two genetic streams in the first place. These inherent patterns are what Jung called the Collective Unconscious. Genealogy functions as a therapeutic portal, much like dreams or symptoms, allowing us to enter the imaginal dimension.
Epigenetics is the heritable changes in gene activity not caused by changes in the DNA sequence, but rooted in our ancestors' experience. Genes are expressed or silenced depending on famines or fortunes.
Genealogy is about identity. It is an art, a quest for truth within, mobilizing the soul for creative self-expression, self-discovery and self-healing. Much benefit and fulfillment comes simply by remembering, writing, recording, sharing, painting, enacting or otherwise birthing into the physical world. Genealogy takes tremendous effort, affecting the psyche with both known and unknown historical and imaginal elements. It has its own magic, alchemy, and synchronicities.
Some seek social status through their genealogies when other avenues elude them. In search of their identity, they wind up finding the Shadow. Others use it to build a persona or mystique that becomes their main way of connecting in the world, an excessive commitment to a social mask or psychological armor. Recovery, the aim of individuation, means re-adaptation in outer life.
Genetics demonstrates that traits are not inherited preferentially from the ancestral matrix. While you may have a demonstrable royal line, you inherit far more genetics from commoners who did not have their lines recorded. While it is true that the Y-haplotype is passed directly from father to son, generation after generation, we all also inherit the even more persistent mitochondrial DNA from our maternal ancestors, up to 400 generations, or so.
With mtDNA the surname changes each generation. Every once in a while a mutation—a random, natural (and usually harmless) change—occurs in that sequence, like a spelling mistake. After one of these mutations occurs a woman passes it on to her daughters, and her daughters' daughters, and so on. Sons also inherit mtDNA, but the sons do not pass it on. Geneticists use these markers to construct one global mitochondrial family tree.
Even siblings may or may not inherit the slightest bit of any given ancestor or line. Thus, there is no single haplotype for the royal lines, nor any single identifying gene of that inheritance. Those with a royal genealogy may not have single "royal" gene in their genome, making any claims of extraordinary inheritance moot.
No one knows where Rh negative originates. Rhesus negative blood simply means that the blood doesn't have any Rhesus antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. Absence of a protein does not have to originate from anywhere. Rh+ has the antigen; Rh negative does not. The gene quit working.
There is nothing alien here, no alien genes present. Actually the “absence” of our own genes produces the RhD antigen. Transport of CO2 is the ancestral function of Rh proteins. It potentially helped breathing in northern climes. The role of RhD, is to help maintain the flexible, flattened shape of the red cell.
Plausibly, a mutation on the first chromosome rendered Rh negative individuals incapable of producing functional Rhesus proteins. Few have it because it is a recessive trait. Five percent of the global population is currently Rh negative. It rises to 15% in the UK and USA, and to 50% in the Basques who descend from indigenous Paleolithic inhabitants.
Conceivably, only one sibling in a dozen might be Rh negative, descended from Rh-positive parents. Even siblings get varied genetic packages and may not have genes from all the ethnicities or ancestors of their genealogical lines. There are different ethnic signatures. Some siblings might carry the signature of Native ancestry; others not.
As a recessive trait, Rh negative blood may or may not express in a family. It could be ten or more generations since anyone had Rh negative blood in his/her family. To express it, both parents must carry the recessive gene. Two parents who have O positive blood could easily have an O negative child. Most O negative children have parents who are positive. Some or perhaps none of a couple's children may inherit the trait. Siblings can be mixed Rh negative with other blood types that are dominant. Some people wrongly believe that O negative blood is "pure" or "alien.” Every group overlaps genetically with every other.
There is no singular gene, mutation, allele, STR or SNP that tells the whole story. There are clusters of mutations that show deep relationship patterns of regional origin in some individuals. There is no DNA report that is 100% conclusive. They use the statistical “educated guess.” Many families conduct their own DNA research projects.
Statistical sampling flaws can lead to misinterpretations, based on too small samplings and comparison studies. So, our own conclusions about our own DNA tests are, in part, interpretations of an interpretation. We can only draw inferences about the past based on the patterns observed in human DNA. And this is what keeps our quest alive.
Curated Lines
Most Europeans descend largely from farmers who migrated out of the Middle East 9,000 years ago. As offspring left their parents’ farms and moved into new territory, they interbred with existing hunter-gatherer populations. This produced gradients of genetic change radiating from the Middle East.
Only in mountainous areas unattractive to farmers—the Pyrenees of the Basques, for example—were the genes of the indigenous peoples left intact. Other historical events influenced the European gene pool. For example, a genetic trail leads from the area north of the Black and Caspian Seas into the rest of Europe. This trail helped spread the descendants of nomadic warriors and herders, who first domesticated the horse about 4,000 B.C.
Again, it requires interpretation. It is a truism that genealogy without proofs is speculative, and even those lines accepted as "best practice" in genealogy have gaps and presumptions that ultimately lead back to mythical progenitors, like Wotan, Hercules, or Aphrodite—and yes, even Cain. Any viable genealogy must be curated with citations and evidence at every stage to be reliable.
Once you locate a ‘gateway ancestor’ —one who links your family to a known noble ancestry—the door opens to a world of recorded and published pedigrees that can lead back to royalty. These gateways provide a personal link to the highly inbred medieval world, in the form of descents from medieval kings, queens, popes, crusaders, troubadours, heroes, villains, and saints.
Early immigrants with traceable royal ancestry are the best ‘gateways,’ but not really out of any class-oriented prejudice. Among early immigrants from Europe to the Americas, individuals with noble connections are likely to be traceable to a far larger number of ancestors, and thus sustain more interest and offer more connections.
Gateway ancestors link your family to published pedigrees that can lead back to royalty. Chances are the line from your gateway ancestor leads to Charlemagne. Most of these ascents go through the English or French kings, such as Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine back to the Merovingians.
Do the Math and Get Over It
Most Americans with sizable New England Yankee, mid-Atlantic Quaker, or Southern "planter" ancestry are descended from medieval royals—kings of England, Scotland, and France, especially. Following those lines back into the mists of pre-history we find direct links to all so-called racial divisions. Most of our ancestors will remain "invisible." This is the main reason people emphasize ancestral nobles.
The ancient royal lines include Asian Siberians and Han Chinese dynasties, sub-Saharan African, Jewish, and Muslim lines among the direct ancestors. Some will have Turkish, Persian, and Indian lines. Ultimately, this means 'race' is an illusion, other than the human race. The math backs this up, indicating we are all related within perhaps forty generations.
So you find you come from royalty—get over it! The Pyramid Theory, a doubling of ancestors each generation back, claims you have 2048 ancestors by the 12th generation past, and possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades. By Generation 40, you would have more than one trillion ancestors!
We are at the end of a long and winding genetic journey that continues after and through us. We are probably all connected by the 25th great-grandparents. There is a great possibility that we are descendants (or are related) from almost everyone alive some seven hundred years ago. Many of those ancestors are the same persons. The genealogical evidence shows that many of the families intermarried for generations. By the 12th generation you have possibly 60,000 direct ancestors going back to the Crusades.
Yet, somehow a determined gene can survive intact through all those descendants and become a particle of memory that will give you a dejá vu once in a while. Ancestral memories may not be of actual events—it is not to be confused with the idea of past life or reincarnation—but of reactive response patterns and emotional states brought about by environment. The past has gone and the future has yet to come. All we ever have is the present.
Mixed Blood
So, how do we relate to those we perceive as kin? Anthropologist Nancy Thornhill contends that the prohibitions against incestuous marriages in most societies are not public-health measures to reduce birth defects, but are the society's way of fighting back against extended families.
Successful coalitions and charlatans may pose as "kin.” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker warns misperceived kinship makes people vulnerable to manipulation and cultish mind control: kinship is in the mind of the beholder. This kind of mind control is a strong temptation to cults and religions that want to foster cohesion among people who are not closely related.
It isn't merely our noble genealogy, shared with millions, that makes us who we are. What is unique is our personal reaction to such knowledge and how our relationship with it evolves as we assimilate and integrate that expanded awareness—the Mystery of the whole matter. We are all in it together.
We need to know genealogy much like we need to know physics and psychology to comprehend what matter is, as well as what makes us matter. We have thousands of ancestor lines that are not preserved, making the small slice of royal descent largely archetypal as well as material. The part stands for the Whole—the cosmic process of Big History.
References
The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/04/the-genetic-archaeology-of-race/2180/
Banyan, Will, Paranoia Magazine, http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2013/01/the-tangled-web-icke-weaves-who-is-behind-david-ickes-freedom-foundation/
Bryner, Jeanna, One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes, January 31, 2008,
http://www.livescience.com/9578-common-ancestor-blue-eyes.html
“Cosmic rays reveal event in Earth's magnetic field history,” Nov 29, 2012, Journal of Geophysical Research, http://phys.org/news/2012-11-cosmic-rays-reveal-event-earth.html
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Jungian Genealogy,” http://jungiangenealogy.weebly.com/
Miller, Iona, 2013, “Sangreality Now,” http://sangreality.weebly.com/index.html
Nowaczyk, Dr. Norbert and Prof. Helge Arz, Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Oppenheimer, Stephen, “Myths of British ancestry,” October 2006, Prospect, https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestryrevisited/#.Uo1R5HcvY_M
Pinker, Steven, 2007, “Strangled by Roots,” http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2007.06.08_thenewrepublic.pdf
Stolte, Daniel, "Human Y chromosome much older than previously thought,” American Journal of Human Genetics, March 4, 2013 http://phys.org/news/2013-03-human-chromosome-older-previously-thought.html#jCp
Yong, Ed, “Americas’ natives have European roots The oldest known genome of a modern human solves long-standing puzzles about the New World's genetic heritage,” Nature, 20 November 2013, www.nature.com/news/americas-natives-have-european-roots-1.14213
About the Author Iona Miller is a nonfiction writer for the academic and popular press, clinical hypnotherapist, and multimedia artist. She is an advisor to DNA Decipher Journal, and other scientific journals. Her main site is http://ionamiller.weebly.com.
Blood Types
http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask381
Where does Rh negative blood truly originate from as I have seen several sites speaking of reptilian blood and blood of the gods? What is that all about and is there any truth to what is said?
-A curious adult from California
October 20, 2010
What an interesting question about Rh negative blood! It would be very cool to think that our human ancestors bred with reptiles and/or gods. However, there is no evidence to support this.
In fact, Rh negative blood is an ordinary trait that some people have and some people don't. In this way, it isn't any stranger than different eye or hair colors.
So, where do these sorts of differences come from? They come from our DNA!
Remember, DNA is the instruction manual that makes us who we are. There is DNA that controls our hair and eye color, our blood type and most everything else about us.
We have different traits because of small differences in our DNA. And when we look at Rh negative and Rh positive people, we see the usual kind of difference. There is no need to invoke aliens, gods or reptiles. It is just simple biology.
So being Rh negative isn't any stranger than having blue eyes or red hair. But some people think it must be special because of the effects it can sometimes have on pregnancy.
When an Rh negative mother is pregnant with an Rh positive child, the mother's immune system can attack the baby's blood. This can cause the baby to get very sick or even die. This is called hemolytic disease of the newborn or HDN.
HDN makes it look like the mother is rejecting the child. As if the mother and child are from different species.
But they're not. Mom just has an ordinary DNA difference that can have bad effects on her pregnancy.
This difference has probably stuck around because it has some good points too. Some researchers think that it may make people more resistant to certain parasites like Toxoplasma. In some situations, the good of parasite resistance trumps the bad of the pregnancy problems.
For the rest of this answer I am going to focus on how DNA differences come about and how they can spread throughout the population. In the end you'll see that being Rh negative is just an ordinary DNA difference that happened the way these kinds of things usually do.
DNA Can and Does Change
As I hinted at before, each of us has a different set of DNA that makes us unique in our own special way. The differences we see in each person's DNA are ultimately due to mutations.
A mutation is simply a change in the DNA. And they happen all the time.
For example, mutations can happen when cells divide to make new cells. Each time a cell divides, it needs to copy its DNA. Occasionally a mistake slips through and the new cell has a DNA change.
Outside things like UV light from the sun can also cause mutations by damaging the DNA. The cell can usually fix these but sometimes it does not do its job perfectly and the mistake stays. Now there is a new mutation.
If these kinds of changes happen in an egg or a sperm, then they can be passed down to the next generation. Believe it or not, this is where all the wonderful variation we see around us came from. Including having Rh negative blood. (Click here for information on how an individual genetically inherits Rh negative.)
Not All DNA Changes Are Bad
When you think of a mutation you probably think of giant spiders attacking San Francisco. Or terrible diseases like cystic fibrosis or cancer.
But not all mutations are bad. They can have positive and negative effects on the body and are important to the evolution of life. These genetic variations (as established mutations are called) help us to evolve and stay strong as a species.
Eye color is a great example of how DNA mutations can cause genetic variation. In the beginning, almost all people had brown eyes. Then, with a single DNA change, blue, green, hazel, and all of the rest of the other eye colors became possible.
Another good example has to do with groups of people that eat a lot of starch. Our bodies digest starch using something called amylase.
Way back when, the human diet had very little starch. And so we made very little amylase.
As cultures started to eat more starch, people who happened to have a mutation that caused them to make more amylase did better. They had more kids and eventually their mutation became the norm.
This did not happen in cultures that continued to eat very little starch. The amylase mutation didn't become common and so most of them still made very little amylase.
By looking at our DNA, we can see similar sorts of stories with digesting milk or dealing with the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau. There is a rare mutation that becomes common as conditions change to favor the mutation. This is how the human species is able to evolve around the world.
This sort of thing makes sense for these mutations. But what about Rh? How could something that causes mom to injure and sometimes even kill her child spread through a population? By having some advantages that outweigh the disadvantages.
The Yin and the Yang of Rh
Rh negative blood is very rare and there are pros and cons to having this blood type. As I mentioned above, having Rh negative blood can cause problems during pregnancy for the mother and child. But it isn't necessarily all bad.
One idea is that Rh negative people may be resistant to some of the effects of the parasite Toxoplasma. This parasite can invade our body and damage the brain, especially in babies.
It looks like Rh negative people may be less affected by this parasite. In areas with a lot of Toxoplasma, being Rh negative might be an advantage. The less severe effects of the parasite may outweigh the effects on pregnancy.
Rh negative people may also be resistant to other viruses or parasites that we haven't discovered yet. There is still so much to be understood!
While we don't have a solid handle on all of the advantages of having Rh negative blood yet, we do understand the advantages of sickle cell anemia (SCA) pretty well. SCA is a genetic disease that affects millions of people around the world.
The advantages of sickle cell anemia (SCA) are much better understood. SCA is caused by a DNA mutation that affects red blood cells. Under certain conditions, these red blood cells sickle up causing all sorts of problems. Most people with SCA die too early in life. Not much advantage there.
The advantage comes from people who carry the disease but do not have the disease themselves. These folks are called carriers and are resistant to malaria.
The idea is that the benefits of being a carrier outweigh the cost of having an occasional child with SCA. At least in areas where malaria is common.
Undoubtedly something similar is going on with being Rh negative. The Toxoplasma resistance may be enough or there may be other advantages we don't know about yet.
So, there you go! Great question and hopefully this answer confirms the fact that Rh negative blood originates from a mutation in the RHD gene. I hope all this new information encourages you to find out your blood type!
http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask381
Where does Rh negative blood truly originate from as I have seen several sites speaking of reptilian blood and blood of the gods? What is that all about and is there any truth to what is said?
-A curious adult from California
October 20, 2010
What an interesting question about Rh negative blood! It would be very cool to think that our human ancestors bred with reptiles and/or gods. However, there is no evidence to support this.
In fact, Rh negative blood is an ordinary trait that some people have and some people don't. In this way, it isn't any stranger than different eye or hair colors.
So, where do these sorts of differences come from? They come from our DNA!
Remember, DNA is the instruction manual that makes us who we are. There is DNA that controls our hair and eye color, our blood type and most everything else about us.
We have different traits because of small differences in our DNA. And when we look at Rh negative and Rh positive people, we see the usual kind of difference. There is no need to invoke aliens, gods or reptiles. It is just simple biology.
So being Rh negative isn't any stranger than having blue eyes or red hair. But some people think it must be special because of the effects it can sometimes have on pregnancy.
When an Rh negative mother is pregnant with an Rh positive child, the mother's immune system can attack the baby's blood. This can cause the baby to get very sick or even die. This is called hemolytic disease of the newborn or HDN.
HDN makes it look like the mother is rejecting the child. As if the mother and child are from different species.
But they're not. Mom just has an ordinary DNA difference that can have bad effects on her pregnancy.
This difference has probably stuck around because it has some good points too. Some researchers think that it may make people more resistant to certain parasites like Toxoplasma. In some situations, the good of parasite resistance trumps the bad of the pregnancy problems.
For the rest of this answer I am going to focus on how DNA differences come about and how they can spread throughout the population. In the end you'll see that being Rh negative is just an ordinary DNA difference that happened the way these kinds of things usually do.
DNA Can and Does Change
As I hinted at before, each of us has a different set of DNA that makes us unique in our own special way. The differences we see in each person's DNA are ultimately due to mutations.
A mutation is simply a change in the DNA. And they happen all the time.
For example, mutations can happen when cells divide to make new cells. Each time a cell divides, it needs to copy its DNA. Occasionally a mistake slips through and the new cell has a DNA change.
Outside things like UV light from the sun can also cause mutations by damaging the DNA. The cell can usually fix these but sometimes it does not do its job perfectly and the mistake stays. Now there is a new mutation.
If these kinds of changes happen in an egg or a sperm, then they can be passed down to the next generation. Believe it or not, this is where all the wonderful variation we see around us came from. Including having Rh negative blood. (Click here for information on how an individual genetically inherits Rh negative.)
Not All DNA Changes Are Bad
When you think of a mutation you probably think of giant spiders attacking San Francisco. Or terrible diseases like cystic fibrosis or cancer.
But not all mutations are bad. They can have positive and negative effects on the body and are important to the evolution of life. These genetic variations (as established mutations are called) help us to evolve and stay strong as a species.
Eye color is a great example of how DNA mutations can cause genetic variation. In the beginning, almost all people had brown eyes. Then, with a single DNA change, blue, green, hazel, and all of the rest of the other eye colors became possible.
Another good example has to do with groups of people that eat a lot of starch. Our bodies digest starch using something called amylase.
Way back when, the human diet had very little starch. And so we made very little amylase.
As cultures started to eat more starch, people who happened to have a mutation that caused them to make more amylase did better. They had more kids and eventually their mutation became the norm.
This did not happen in cultures that continued to eat very little starch. The amylase mutation didn't become common and so most of them still made very little amylase.
By looking at our DNA, we can see similar sorts of stories with digesting milk or dealing with the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau. There is a rare mutation that becomes common as conditions change to favor the mutation. This is how the human species is able to evolve around the world.
This sort of thing makes sense for these mutations. But what about Rh? How could something that causes mom to injure and sometimes even kill her child spread through a population? By having some advantages that outweigh the disadvantages.
The Yin and the Yang of Rh
Rh negative blood is very rare and there are pros and cons to having this blood type. As I mentioned above, having Rh negative blood can cause problems during pregnancy for the mother and child. But it isn't necessarily all bad.
One idea is that Rh negative people may be resistant to some of the effects of the parasite Toxoplasma. This parasite can invade our body and damage the brain, especially in babies.
It looks like Rh negative people may be less affected by this parasite. In areas with a lot of Toxoplasma, being Rh negative might be an advantage. The less severe effects of the parasite may outweigh the effects on pregnancy.
Rh negative people may also be resistant to other viruses or parasites that we haven't discovered yet. There is still so much to be understood!
While we don't have a solid handle on all of the advantages of having Rh negative blood yet, we do understand the advantages of sickle cell anemia (SCA) pretty well. SCA is a genetic disease that affects millions of people around the world.
The advantages of sickle cell anemia (SCA) are much better understood. SCA is caused by a DNA mutation that affects red blood cells. Under certain conditions, these red blood cells sickle up causing all sorts of problems. Most people with SCA die too early in life. Not much advantage there.
The advantage comes from people who carry the disease but do not have the disease themselves. These folks are called carriers and are resistant to malaria.
The idea is that the benefits of being a carrier outweigh the cost of having an occasional child with SCA. At least in areas where malaria is common.
Undoubtedly something similar is going on with being Rh negative. The Toxoplasma resistance may be enough or there may be other advantages we don't know about yet.
So, there you go! Great question and hopefully this answer confirms the fact that Rh negative blood originates from a mutation in the RHD gene. I hope all this new information encourages you to find out your blood type!
Did Rh- blood come from Neanderthals? I have seen postings on the web that say that it entered human DNA around 35,000 years ago and that seems about right for coming from Neanderthals.
-A curious adult from California
July 9, 2013
If the 35,000 number were right, then this wouldn’t be a bad guess. But that number is almost certainly incorrect. Rh- blood probably arose millions of years ago rather than tens of thousands.
Keep in mind that when I say Rh- here, I mean the form that is common in Europe. This is just one of lots of ways of being Rh-. This means there wasn’t some single event of outbreeding that explains all forms of Rh- blood. Lots of individual specific events have happened over our history.
And even if we do focus just on the form common in Europe, the 35,000 number still doesn’t work. This form predates modern humans settling down in Europe.
One of the big clues that this form of Rh- has been around for a long time is that it is the most common form in Africa as well as Europe. Now I don’t mean it is as common in Africa as it is in Europe. It isn’t. What I do mean is that even though being Rh- isn’t very common in Africa, if you have the blood type, then the most common way is the same in both Africa and Europe.
And don’t just take my word for this. Because there isn’t a lot of information out there about the evolutionary history of Rh- blood, I decided to consult one of the big names in the field, Dr. Bill Flegel of the National Institutes of Health. Here is what he had to say in an email when I asked about the 35,000 number:
35,000 years is very likely incorrect and too recent. The RHD deletion occurred in Africa, almost certainly before anyone migrated out of Africa. Keep in mind that the common RHD deletion worldwide is also *the* prevalent D negative RH haplotype in Africans today. How should that be, if the RHD deletion somehow occurred in connection with groups migrating out of Africa?
What this all means is that it is extremely unlikely that the common form of Rh- blood originated in Neanderthals and then spread into humans through breeding. It simply arose too long ago for this to be true.
This also means that even if we see evidence that Neanderthals had this form of being Rh-, that doesn’t mean we got it from them. A more likely explanation in that case is that we shared common ancestors who had the same form of Rh- blood in their blood.
I should mention that so far we don’t have any evidence either way about the Rh status of Neanderthals (although we do know that some of them had O blood type). The part of the DNA that is involved in Rh status is tricky to read and we haven’t yet been able to figure it out in Neanderthals. But again, even if we do see evidence of this form of Rh- blood in Neanderthals, this doesn’t mean we got it from them.
OK so Rh- blood almost certainly did not come from Neanderthals. It also did not come from aliens or anything else like that. Rh- blood is just another genetic variation like the ones that lead to red hair or blue eyes.
In fact, the gene involved in being Rh-, the RHD gene, is arranged so that DNA differences will spring up more often than in other DNA regions. This is why there are so many different ways to be Rh-.
So the tricky part isn’t explaining how the common Rh- form first arose. It is inevitable that this region of the DNA will turn Rh- every now and then. No the tricky part is explaining how something that can cause problems in pregnancy could become more common in Europe than elsewhere.
The most likely explanation is that being Rh- had some advantage in our past or maybe even today. Another possibility is that being a silent carrier might be useful. In either case, the advantage of being Rh- would outweigh the disadvantage of having problems with having Rh+ babies.
Rh- Spread
It is confusing that the Rh- blood type is as common as it is because it can have such profound effects. If an Rh- mother is pregnant with an Rh+ child, the child is at risk for something called hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). And each child she has afterwards is at a higher risk.
Nowadays a woman can be given a couple of RhoGAM shots to prevent these problems from happening. But even a hundred years ago this wasn’t an option.
From a biological point of view, if being Rh- had only this effect, then Rh- women should have fewer children. This means that the DNA that leads to being Rh- should be passed down less often. Over time, being Rh- should become less and less common and, perhaps, even disappear.
But this clearly has not happened in Europe. Around 18% of people of European descent are Rh- compared with 1-3% of Africans (see the table at the end of the answer for a more statistics like this). Something weird seems to be going on in Europe.
One possibility is that the Rh- people happened to settle together. If everyone has Rh- blood, then there is no disadvantage to having it. Two Rh- parents are at little risk for an Rh+ baby which means the baby is at little risk for HDN.
There do appear to be some areas of higher concentration in Europe. For example, the Basques of the Pyrenees between Spain and France are 35% Rh-. That is a lot but still, 65% of them Rh+ and nowhere else in Europe is the concentration so high. This means that this is probably not the explanation.
Another possibility is that there is some advantage to having Rh- blood and/or carrying a silent version of it in your DNA. The latter case would make it similar to sickle cell anemia.
People with sickle cell anemia used to die very young in life. This makes it hard to understand why it is so common in certain areas of the world.
The reason it persists is that if you carried a silent version of the gene, you were resistant to malaria. The 1 in 4 chance for the child of two carriers to end up with sickle cell anemia was not as high as the risk of the parents dying from malaria before having kids. So, over time, this gene spread through the population.
We haven’t yet found anything so obvious for Rh- blood but a recent idea is that it may protect from a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. It doesn't keep you from getting the parasite, but it might make the effects less severe.
Toxoplasma gondii affects people's motor skills. For example, it seems to slow down people's responses so they are more likely to get in car accidents.
A couple of recent studies showed that having one copy of Rh- and one copy of Rh+ protects someone from these effects. In other words, Rh+ people who carry a silent Rh negative copy of the RHD gene may do better in areas with lots of Toxoplasma gondii infections. Like in Europe, for example, where being Rh negative is much more common than other places in the world.
While we may not know the reason for the spread of the most common form of being Rh- in Europe, what we do know is that it did not suddenly appear in humans 35,000 years ago. Most likely it arose in Africa hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago.
And what we also know is that Rh- blood will always be around because of how the RHD gene is set up in our DNA. Even if the most common form we have been talking about disappeared, a new Rh- form would take its place. Someone, somewhere will always be Rh-.
http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/rh-did-not-come-neanderthals
-A curious adult from California
July 9, 2013
If the 35,000 number were right, then this wouldn’t be a bad guess. But that number is almost certainly incorrect. Rh- blood probably arose millions of years ago rather than tens of thousands.
Keep in mind that when I say Rh- here, I mean the form that is common in Europe. This is just one of lots of ways of being Rh-. This means there wasn’t some single event of outbreeding that explains all forms of Rh- blood. Lots of individual specific events have happened over our history.
And even if we do focus just on the form common in Europe, the 35,000 number still doesn’t work. This form predates modern humans settling down in Europe.
One of the big clues that this form of Rh- has been around for a long time is that it is the most common form in Africa as well as Europe. Now I don’t mean it is as common in Africa as it is in Europe. It isn’t. What I do mean is that even though being Rh- isn’t very common in Africa, if you have the blood type, then the most common way is the same in both Africa and Europe.
And don’t just take my word for this. Because there isn’t a lot of information out there about the evolutionary history of Rh- blood, I decided to consult one of the big names in the field, Dr. Bill Flegel of the National Institutes of Health. Here is what he had to say in an email when I asked about the 35,000 number:
35,000 years is very likely incorrect and too recent. The RHD deletion occurred in Africa, almost certainly before anyone migrated out of Africa. Keep in mind that the common RHD deletion worldwide is also *the* prevalent D negative RH haplotype in Africans today. How should that be, if the RHD deletion somehow occurred in connection with groups migrating out of Africa?
What this all means is that it is extremely unlikely that the common form of Rh- blood originated in Neanderthals and then spread into humans through breeding. It simply arose too long ago for this to be true.
This also means that even if we see evidence that Neanderthals had this form of being Rh-, that doesn’t mean we got it from them. A more likely explanation in that case is that we shared common ancestors who had the same form of Rh- blood in their blood.
I should mention that so far we don’t have any evidence either way about the Rh status of Neanderthals (although we do know that some of them had O blood type). The part of the DNA that is involved in Rh status is tricky to read and we haven’t yet been able to figure it out in Neanderthals. But again, even if we do see evidence of this form of Rh- blood in Neanderthals, this doesn’t mean we got it from them.
OK so Rh- blood almost certainly did not come from Neanderthals. It also did not come from aliens or anything else like that. Rh- blood is just another genetic variation like the ones that lead to red hair or blue eyes.
In fact, the gene involved in being Rh-, the RHD gene, is arranged so that DNA differences will spring up more often than in other DNA regions. This is why there are so many different ways to be Rh-.
So the tricky part isn’t explaining how the common Rh- form first arose. It is inevitable that this region of the DNA will turn Rh- every now and then. No the tricky part is explaining how something that can cause problems in pregnancy could become more common in Europe than elsewhere.
The most likely explanation is that being Rh- had some advantage in our past or maybe even today. Another possibility is that being a silent carrier might be useful. In either case, the advantage of being Rh- would outweigh the disadvantage of having problems with having Rh+ babies.
Rh- Spread
It is confusing that the Rh- blood type is as common as it is because it can have such profound effects. If an Rh- mother is pregnant with an Rh+ child, the child is at risk for something called hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). And each child she has afterwards is at a higher risk.
Nowadays a woman can be given a couple of RhoGAM shots to prevent these problems from happening. But even a hundred years ago this wasn’t an option.
From a biological point of view, if being Rh- had only this effect, then Rh- women should have fewer children. This means that the DNA that leads to being Rh- should be passed down less often. Over time, being Rh- should become less and less common and, perhaps, even disappear.
But this clearly has not happened in Europe. Around 18% of people of European descent are Rh- compared with 1-3% of Africans (see the table at the end of the answer for a more statistics like this). Something weird seems to be going on in Europe.
One possibility is that the Rh- people happened to settle together. If everyone has Rh- blood, then there is no disadvantage to having it. Two Rh- parents are at little risk for an Rh+ baby which means the baby is at little risk for HDN.
There do appear to be some areas of higher concentration in Europe. For example, the Basques of the Pyrenees between Spain and France are 35% Rh-. That is a lot but still, 65% of them Rh+ and nowhere else in Europe is the concentration so high. This means that this is probably not the explanation.
Another possibility is that there is some advantage to having Rh- blood and/or carrying a silent version of it in your DNA. The latter case would make it similar to sickle cell anemia.
People with sickle cell anemia used to die very young in life. This makes it hard to understand why it is so common in certain areas of the world.
The reason it persists is that if you carried a silent version of the gene, you were resistant to malaria. The 1 in 4 chance for the child of two carriers to end up with sickle cell anemia was not as high as the risk of the parents dying from malaria before having kids. So, over time, this gene spread through the population.
We haven’t yet found anything so obvious for Rh- blood but a recent idea is that it may protect from a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. It doesn't keep you from getting the parasite, but it might make the effects less severe.
Toxoplasma gondii affects people's motor skills. For example, it seems to slow down people's responses so they are more likely to get in car accidents.
A couple of recent studies showed that having one copy of Rh- and one copy of Rh+ protects someone from these effects. In other words, Rh+ people who carry a silent Rh negative copy of the RHD gene may do better in areas with lots of Toxoplasma gondii infections. Like in Europe, for example, where being Rh negative is much more common than other places in the world.
While we may not know the reason for the spread of the most common form of being Rh- in Europe, what we do know is that it did not suddenly appear in humans 35,000 years ago. Most likely it arose in Africa hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago.
And what we also know is that Rh- blood will always be around because of how the RHD gene is set up in our DNA. Even if the most common form we have been talking about disappeared, a new Rh- form would take its place. Someone, somewhere will always be Rh-.
http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/rh-did-not-come-neanderthals