Bonnie Schrack & Matthew Fomine Forka

Bonnie and Matthew got to know each other as a result of our first paper on A00, "An African American Paternal Lineage Adds an Extremely Ancient Root to the Human Y Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree," of which we were both co-authors.

Matthew was the collector of the original Mbo DNA samples from Cameroon, which testing found to belong to the same extraordinary branch as the unique Y chromosome that we had discovered in the U.S.

Bonnie had organized the testing of the members of the A Haplogroup Project, including the Perry family, leading to the discovery of A00 in their Y-DNA.

We could see that the mere discovery of A00's existence was only the first step; so much more can be learned. We decided to work together to collect DNA samples from key ethnic groups across Cameroon, which could give a far more complete picture of A00's distribution, frequency, and diversity, leading to a clearer understanding of its role in human history.

July 2013