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Genetic Testing has offered explanation to many mystifying questions that are associated with the origin and culture of people belonging to Ireland. Archaeologists from Queen's University Belfast and geneticists from Trinity College in Dublin sequenced genomes from ancient Irish humans and the information buried inside these genomes has answered some crucial questions about the people of Ireland, their origin and their culture. A genome is DNA set of an organism that has all its genes. The information required to build and maintain an organism is there in each genome. A human genome has more than 3 billion pairs of DNA. Ireland has been known for its interesting genes. The Irish gene is made of made of several European gradients. The Y chromosome present in Irish genes is typical of Western Europe, some lactose intolerance as well as presence of other significant genetic diseases, including the one called haemochromatosis that is related to excessive retention of iron. However, the origin of this heritage remains unknown, reports BBC News

According to the research, Irish farmers were similar to Southern Europeans and their genetic patterns transformed significantly during the Bronze Age, as the people from eastern border of Europe settled into the Atlantic region. The research is published in the journal PNAS.

The researchers sequenced genomes of a 5,200-year-old female farmer belonging to the Neolithic period and males approximately 4,000-years-old from the Bronze Age. There have been conflicting views about the transition in the British Isles from hunting lifestyle to agriculture based and usage of metal from stone were due to adapting to new ways by indigenous people or due to population movements happening at a large scale around that time. The ancient Irish genomes show mass migration as the cause in both cases, reports New Historian.