Genetic Comparison

As we discussed the genetic differences between ethnicities, I thought I'd be relevant to show how my genes compare with an "average" Nigerian. The genetic comparison we saw in the documentary was sort of misleading because it used mitochondrial DNA, which is only passed though the maternal line. This means that it excluded paternal ancestry and included information about genetic material that doesn't determine our traits. Nevertheless genetic comparisons of "22 autosomal chromosomes, which means all the chromosomes except for the sex chromosomes (X and Y) and the mitochondrial DNA," according to genetic testing I used, shows that there aren't many differences between me and a Nigerian.

The results show that I'm 69.07% similar to an average Nigerian and even more similar in many specific traits like BMI, endurance or immune system. The only trait that is less similar is pigmentation or skin color, and it's still very similar. Using this tool I can also compare myself with my parents, and an average Chinese or Japanese person. I'm 84.93% similar to my mom, 84.87% to my dad, 71.60% to a Chinese person and 71.61% to a Japanese person. As Sub-Saharan Africans were isolated from the rest of humans through the last thousands of years, it is expected that their traits be somewhat different. These results shows that the small genetic differences between me, mostly White, and an African, or other people, don't really suggest that race, or human subspecies, exist but rather that humans simply have different traits.