Understanding the Impacts of the Genetic Diversity of a Wider Range of Americans

I recently read a New York Times article titled, "Tales of African-American History Found in DNA," and felt that a new discovery made by team of geneticists from McGill detailed in the article was too important not to share. While African Americans' harsh transatlantic journey to the U.S. to become slaves and their later migration from the South to cities in the North in the 1900s are significant and understood pieces of history, African Americans' genetic variation that arose as a result of such migration has not been investigated....until now. 


The team of geneticists at McGill evaluated the DNA of thousands of African Americans in three different medical studies. They discovered that the ancestors of the average African-American today were 82.1 percent African, 16.7 percent European and 1.2 percent Native American. You might be asking yourself why such findings are important. Well, besides the historical impact this research has,  the information revealed about African Americans' health is extremely significant. The map of genetic diversity created "will show how genes influence their risk for various diseases," according to the McGill geneticists. Most known information about the relationship between genes and disease has been centered around those of European descent, but now the focus has been broadened. Already, scientists have found a potential drug for heart disease through a rare genetic mutation found in African-American woman. Thus, more information on African American genetic diversity leads to not only benefits for African Americans, but discoveries that may benefit all people.