ISOLATION, ICELAND, AND GENETICS RESEARCH

Two unusually clean copper miners

Here is an article that combines two of my favorite things – Iceland, and genetics research.

http://www.newsweek.com/vikings-might-slay-cancer-354895

(Don’t access it more than five times, or Newsweek will insist that you subscribe!).

You probably know the Iceland story, at least broadly.  Way back – say about 750 A.D. – Irish monks seeking solitude sailed (in skin boats!) out into the north Atlantic, hoping to find islands.  Some of them reached Iceland and set up shop (settled in caves, huts or volcanic overhangs, and began to pray and/or meditate.)  But, wouldn’t you know it, barely a century passed before Vikings from Norway arrived, seeking free land.  They brought with them people they had kidnapped in Ireland, to serve as slaves.  The pre-existent monks were either absorbed, fled, or exterminated*.   Henceforth these Viking-Icelanders spread throughout the island, cut down all the trees, occupied all the arable land, and – in biblical language – went forth and multiplied.  At one time there may have been as many as 20,000 Icelanders busy farming and multiplying.  But then came what is sometimes called the Little Ice Age, and most of them died off.  Ever since, Icelanders have been keeping meticulous records of who is related to whom; for instance, there is a document – the Icelendingabok – that dates births, deaths and marriages well back into the Middle Ages.  To avoid in-breeding, there is even a web site that you can consult before you ask a girl out on a date (or accept the offer): is your potential partner a second cousin thrice removed?  The motto:  Bump the phone before you bump in bed.

Well, what has all this to do with genetics research?  Quite a lot, it turns out.  For instance, using these data you can determine which lineage is particularly susceptible to ovarian cancer, say, or some other disease.  Then you can search that lineage for prevalent mutations.  This is possible because Iceland has embarked on a program of genetic sequencing: 2,636 Icelanders have had their genomes completely sequenced, and another 104,220 partially so.  In a cohort of only about 350,000 people, that’s a whopping big sample.  The program is called DeCode.  Their current focus is on the genetic attributes of Alzheimer’s disease and certain kinds of cancer.  I hope for rapid progress.

Karen and I noticed evidence of genetic similarity in our brief visit. Notably, there were an abnormal number of very large men with dark hair, a benign smile, and an air of easy self-confidence.  They were peaceable and friendly – but you easily could imagine them with a skin shield in one hand and a bloody battle ax in the other. 

*Another possibility, rarely discussed.  They were monks, implying that they were all men.  There were no native maidens.  Maybe there was just one wave of colonization, and then they simply died of old age.