The following is from an article published by McGill University in Montreal, Quebec:

First study to incorporate genealogical records to provide an accurate map of genetic relatedness

Though we all share common ancestors ranging from a few generations to hundreds of thousands of years, genealogies that relate all of us are often forgotten over time. A new McGill University-led study is now providing insight into the complex relationship between human migration and genetic variation, using a unique genealogical dataset of over five million records spanning 400 years to unravel the genetic structure of French Canadian populations.

The team, including researchers from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, developed a new method to simulate genomes based on a population scale genealogy dating back to the arrival of the first French settlers. By comparing the simulations to real genetic data, they were able to prove that the genetic structure of this population was encoded within its genealogy.

“It is the first genetic study, in any worldwide population, that incorporates genealogical records to provide a strikingly accurate map of genetic relatedness at the population scale,” explains Simon Gravel, Associate Professor in McGill’s Department Human Genetics and one of the study’s authors.

You can read the entire article in the McGill University web site at: https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/mapping-genetic-history-french-canadians-through-space-and-time-348442.