Question

Most people who are infected with the HTLV-1 virus are asymptomatic carriers. One specific subtype of HTLV-I occurs only in a sub-population of the Japanese population and among the native peoples of the Andes mountain area of northern Chile. The researchers are looking for the presence of HTLV-1 DNA in the bone marrow cells of well-preserved Andean mummies. The presence of HTLV-1 DNA in the mummies, of the same subtype observed in Japan, would indicate that some of the first people to migrate to the New World came from Japan.

You identified the type of genome possessed by HTLV-1 in your previous answer. Explain how/why HTLV-1 DNA might be found in the bone marrow of the mummies. Be thorough and specific in your response.

Answer 1

HTLV-1 according to current scientific research is very prevalent among the americas and the pacific island. There are two theories as to this prevalence one is through the japanese migration through the twentieth century. And the other one was when it was brought through the bering strait in the paleolithic era, and through colonial slave trade.

Since it is found in the bone marrow of mummies, we can rule out the recent japanese immigration

About 11,00 years ago evidence exista of a transcontinental migration, across the Bering Strait into North America.

This transcontinental migration of HTLV-1 is evidenced by certain studies that show that there are two sub types of HTLV-1 around the regions it is endemic to, strains (HLA-A*26 and HLA-A*36). This originally evolved in africa, then went through asian populations and then through the americas. Coincidentally this migration overlaps with the migration of asia mongoloids.

Researchers conducted phylogenetic analysis on the femur of a mummy from the southern andes and were found to be related to HTLV-1 carriers, the Ainu of northern Japan, and some mongoloid Asian subgroups. So this indicates that they could have come from Asian mongoloids.