Race: An Analysis Of Genetic Differences

The class of students that were doing the genetic testing experiment assumed that they would have the most in common, genetically, with the people they looked the most alike and had similar ethnic backgrounds. The white males assumed they would be most similar with the other white males who looked the most similar to them, the African American with the other African American because they both had the same skin color, the Latin-American female with the other Latin-American female because they had the same ethnicity and looked alike, and so on. They used mitochondrial DNA for the experiment which is the DNA that comes from the mother and does not code for any traits. Humans have the least amount of genetic variation compared to other organisms. Even penguins who look almost identical and you would assume are more genetically similar, have 2 times more genetic variability from each other than two humans have between each other. Fruit flies have 10 times more genetic variability between each other than humans have. Humans only have variations about every one in one-thousand

Goodman would say. Race is a cultural concept. Physical differences can be explained by mutations, breeding, migration, and geography. What I found to be the biggest factor was first migration from central Africa to the rest of the world and the different environmental stressors to survive where they migrated, such as skin color which is what seems to be the largest definer of race. As humans moves to other areas of the earth that did not have such harsh heat they did not need the same amount of melanin in their skin anymore so skin color got lighter. Then when these people settle in the area they breed and have children that carry on the gene for lighter skin and other