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Project

The genetic legacy of the contemporary Belgian population using the phylogographic approach.

Understanding the genetic structure of human populations is of fundamental interest to medical, forensic, historical and anthropological sciences. One of the most informative genetic markers for a human genetic study is the sex-determining Y-chromosome, which is very useful to detect population differentiation and complex historical migrations in regional areas. Moreover, the Y-chromosome creates a unique opportunity to link an informative genetic marker with a heritable cultural marker, the patrilineale surname. The information of the present genetic variation in Western Europe, Belgium incluced, is still scarce. Nevertheless, Belgium is a very interesting region for genetic research due to its central position in Europe and its complex history. This research project has two major aims: (1) the interpretation of the genetic diversity on the Y-chromosome in the Belgian population; (2) a spatio-temporal analysis of the genetic variation in the several regions of Belgium. This study is embedded in an extended genealogical project coordinated by several Flemish and Walloon genealogical societies together with the Laboratory of Forensic Genetics and Molecular Archaeology of the K.U.Leuven.
Date:1 Oct 2009 →  30 Sep 2010
Keywords:Y-chromosome, Surnames, population genetics, Belgium, Genealogy, Human evolution, Phylogeography
Disciplines:Anthropology, History