Dr. Ugo Perego talks DNA

[gospeltangents]

This is the first of a many part interview with Dr. Ugo A. Perego in which he gives an introduction into DNA science with regards to potential children of Joseph Smith. I think many will find the conversation valuable as a primer to learn some of the basic terminology regarding DNA ancestry, and even why identical twins (or triplets) may have a different ancestral background, despite sharing DNA. I know most people here are not scientists, and I think you will enjoy learning a bit of DNA science, as well as getting to know Dr. Ugo A. Perego a bit better. Honestly his academic credentials are amazing. See https://gospeltangents.com/2017/08/23/d ... go-perego/

Have any of you done a genealogical DNA test? I noticed my sister and I have slightly different ancestry, and I asked him specifically how identical twins can have a different ancestry. It really was fascinating to hear the answer, and then he told me about a case where a woman had twins with 2 different fathers!

Ugo: There is also a proven case of a woman that had twins from two different men. All you have to do is be fertile and having two mature eggs and have sexual relations within a very short amount of time with two different men and one fertilize one egg and the other fertilize the other egg.

Have you ever wanted to know more about DNA science?

[dande48]

I got my undergrad in Genetics; It's one of my favorite subjects. There was another case we studied, which yours reminded me of, where a woman got a genetic test, and said she was not the mother of her two boys. If the husband wasn't the father of the kids, we all can safely guess what happened, but the mother? Turns out, she's one of the first recorded cases of a human chimera. She had a twin, which she half-absorbed in the womb. Now, half of her DNA doesn't match the other half. The saliva where they took the test from was genetically from a different person than her ovaries. Pretty cool, huh?

I know they've been trying to see if JS had any children with his polygammous wives for years, but nothing has come back conclusive. They can tell where two individuals share a most-recent-common ancestor, and it is very easy to trace both the paternal/maternal lines. But it becomes tricky the more convoluted the lines become with genders (i.e. the son of the daughter of the son...), especially when the line gets longer.

I'd be interested to see if anything else turns up... maybe a kid of Fanny Alger. I think JS was as "safe" as could be with his wives, outside of Fanny.

[LookingHard]

Dr. Perego does have some impressive credentials. I liked the first interview and I am looking foward to the rest of them.

I have heard him talk in some other podcasts.

It seems like he is really the only person in the field that is holding the banner that he is. It seems the overwhelming majority of what I read is saying, "the American natives came from Asia."

This is one area that I am not sure the average lay person can really figure out what the competing sides are arguing. I personally have kind of put this aside and waited to see if the battle ends with one side conclusive.

It does seem the church has backed off from really hanging their hat on the original narrative that prevailed until a few decades ago about all the American natives and most Polynesians being "Laminates."

[gospeltangents]

dande48, I've never heard of a mother with 2 sets of DNA. Wish I had known that sooner--I'd have asked Ugo! That's weird.

Ugo has tested 6-7 potential children. He has published on 5 of them and not only ruled Joseph is not the father, but who the father really was, so his tests are actually conclusive. We spend a lot of time warming up to the Josephine Lyon case, which was the most difficult test, and involved 55 people!!! He told me that he has another unpublished study, on Fanny Alger and a potential child, but I believe that hasn't been published yet and he said it appears Joseph is not the father. He is working on a 7th potential child right now of either Joseph or Orson Hyde and Marinda Johnson. So far, Joseph has been ruled out of the previous 6 cases.

LookingHard, as for Native Americans, he has published extensively on the topic, and yes he does believe most came from Asia. We'll cover his opinions in a future episode.