This Is A Bit Bonkers...

[hippyhoppy]

but worth a perusal... My late mother got me thinking.... I said 'Ohh I wonder who we (my family) were when QE1 was on the thone' and she harped back 'oh, we weren't around in those days'.. which had lead to sleepless nights doing maths... and she must be right.... doesn't a gene pool 'fizzle' out at some point...? I'll get me coat..

[boxtops]

No, you must be related way back when to someone, otherwise you wouldn't be here now..... Your genes can be tracked back via your DNA (that's how they find people originating in different parts of the world and can trace movement of humans from way back when).

[Graham-W]

The population of England and Wales in 1550 was about 3.2 million.
The population of England in 2001 was about 52 million.
Therefore, each person alive in 1550 has about 16 direct offspring alive today.
Errrrr? Tell me again how reincarnation works!

[ethandron]

My other half has traced his blood line back to 1668 which is not that long after QE1 died.
If we go back far enough aren't we all related to an African woman?
I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't think a gene pool 'fizzles' out. Didn't they manage to find out who that king was who was buried under a car park, through DNA?

[jake-the-peg]

Depends on what you mean by 'we'
400 years is going to be what? 13 generations?

if your genetic fingerprint is 50% your mothers and 50% your fathers that would suggest you share 1/(2^13) of your genes with any one of those relatives

That's less than one eight-thousandths of you in them.

It's more complex than that of course but I'd go with your mother!

PS don't tell the geneologists selling familly trees!

[hippyhoppy]

Thanks for your answers... my thoughts were that each generation would obviously 'dilute the DNA.. so the weakest will be thrust out... I know what I'm saying in my head.. just can't portray on screen... Off to the back garden with a glass of Pimms.... thanks xxx

[Peter Pedant]

doesn't a gene pool 'fizzle' out at some point...?

noop only it is not suitable for the current environment

Without genetic pressures, the pool will stay constant - Hardy and Weinberg established this in around 1923.

A deleterious gene will hang around for astounding amounts of time if there is (a hidden) advantage - SIckle cell (malaria) springs to mind, and also the cystic fibrosis gene.

and finally there are a group of diseases which dont fizzle
but you can show ARE present in olden times Huntington's Chorea springs to mind for the New England centre, because one of the Pilgrim fathers was observed at the time to be twitching - this is called a founder effect and is observed in the English Royal Family and AIP, Tay Sachs and the Polish Jewish families of 1680-1700 and porphyria in South Africa when it was first observed in Jan van Niekerk's time (1660)

and I havent even got up to the bit why Ellis van Crefeld Syndrom persists in the Australian Aboriginal population

[beso]

//Therefore, each person alive in 1550 has about 16 direct offspring alive today.//

Wrong. On average yes but some lines will have died out while others have many more descendants.