TAIPEI: A large-scale genetic mapping study conducted by a consortium of researchers, including four scientists from Taiwan's Academia Sinica, found that Asia was initially settled by a single wave of migration along the coast.

This genetic mapping of Asia may have important implications, especially in the further understanding of migratory patterns in human history, and the study of genetics and diseases, Academia Sinica said in a press release yesterday.

The study, published December 10 in the prestigious academic journal Science, traced the genetic origins of Asian populations in 73 Southeast Asian and East Asian communities and concluded that genetic ancestry was highly correlated with ethnic and linguistic groups.

"There was a clear increase in genetic diversity from northern to southern latitudes, and there was a single major inflow of human migration from Southeast Asia into other parts of Asia," according to the study.

These findings challenge the current predominant theory that presumes there had been multiple inflows of human migration along both southern and northern routes, it said.

The group conducting the study was made up of over 90 scientists from the Human Genome Organizations' (HUGO's) Pan-Asian Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (PASNP) Consortium.

The scientists were from over 30 top academic institutions in 10 countries and regions, including the Chinese mainland, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

Formed in 1989 in Geneva, the HUGO is an international body of scientists involved in human genetic and genomic research.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/15/2009 page2)