[Brigitta Frantl]

Brigitta Frantl  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
1. When many thousands of years ago the big exodus began from the African continent, did each of the various main groups have a prevalent blood type?
 
2. If blood types could be rated, which one would be the genetically strongest?  (Would it theoretically be possible for one blood group/type to be so dominant that another one would disappear)?
 
3. Are  the negative blood types a mutation from the positive blood types? Can blood types mutate?
 
4. Do the various blood types have a bearing on how our bodies absorb nutrients?
 
 
Brigitta

What do you think?

[litespeed]

FASCINATING SUBJECT!

I did some preliminary research on this and it is WAY interesting. Blood types A&B seem to have been passed down to us from Chimps and Gorillas, respectively through intermediary hominids. These hominids apparently had some hanky panky going on sufficient to mix the two groups. [Chimps have A but never B and gorillas have B but never A. Both groups have small percentages of type O].

According to my reading, however, these hominids never became entirely homogenized. Accordingly, it is inaccurate to say all African blood types left Africa with all the migrating groups. This is ESPECIALLY true with blood type O - which seems to be the mere absence of the A or B genetic alele. http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi9.htm

Specifically, the indigeonous groups of all Latin America, Western North America, Carabean, Florida and Central Arctic are nearly 100% blood type O. This is not the case anyplace else on the planet, and is not the case with any of the other blood types. http://anthro.palomar.edu/vary/vary_3.htm One conclusion is blood type O hominids and their subsequenT homo sapiens descendants remained remarkably homogeounous, and/or died out among the other groups.

Then consider blood types A and B. Type A has high concentration in the Arctic, but also a wide swath of indigeonous Australians right through the middle of the continent. The consider Asia. Blood type B seems to have simply inserted itself right smack bang between those areas with A and O predomenance.

Africa is more of a patchwork, but with pockets of nearly no type B at all. Maybe its just me. But these low type B places seem to be roughly where one would expect to find Brown African Bushmen, who are the oldest genetic population on the planet.

OPEN TO ANY AND OLL OBSERVATIONS - because I have no clue.