The use of DNA sequences to elucidate the history of relationships of organisms is widespread, and focus on our species has been intense. This paper examines some simple aspects of using genetic information to analyze relationships within and amongst humans. Clonal markers (mtDNA and Y chromosomal DNA) have always shown a high degree of structure and robustness when analyzed for hierarchical structure. Results from genome wide phylogenetic structure in many organismal systems suggests instead that recombining genetic elements like the X chromosome and the autosomes will give conflicting information from genome region to genome region. In addition, the evolutionary signal from the different chromosomal regions will show a high degree of incongruence with each other, as do adjacent regions of chromosomes. This incongruence and lack of hierarchical structure is discussed in the context of what we know about human populations and the theoretical underpinnings of tree building based analysis of human populations.

中文翻译：

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我们的基因告诉我们关于过去的什么？

DNA序列用于阐明生物之间的关系的历史很广泛，并且对我们物种的关注也很强烈。本文研究了使用遗传信息分析人类内部和人类之间的关系的一些简单方面。克隆标记（mtDNA和Y染色体DNA）在进行分层结构分析时始终显示出高度的结构性和鲁棒性。相反，许多生物系统中全基因组系统发育结构的结果表明，重组X染色体和常染色体之类的遗传元件将提供从基因组区域到基因组区域的相互矛盾的信息。另外，来自不同染色体区域的进化信号与相邻的染色体区域也将表现出高度的不一致。