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A CONVERSATION WITH BRYAN SYKES:

Is Genghis Khan an Ancestor? Mr. DNA Knows

By CLAUDIA DREIFUS

The New York Times

June 8, 2004

Wherever Dr. Bryan Sykes travels, he carries little swabs for collecting genetic material from strangers.

Dr. Sykes, a human genetics professor at Oxford University and a science adviser to the British House of Commons, loves showing people the astonishing history hidden in their DNA. Zip! A quick swipe of the inner cheek. Three weeks later, a report arrives from Dr. Sykes's laboratory with surprising news that you have, say, a West African ancestor or a kinship to Genghis Khan.

At the moment, Dr. Sykes is collecting swabs from everyone he meets named "MacDonald," to determine the migratory patterns of each branch of the Scottish clan. A reporter was astonished to discover that she has a common ancestor with "Otzi," the prehistoric Ice Man of northern Italy.

Playful projects of this sort might obscure the fact that Dr. Sykes, 56, is one of the world's most acclaimed geneticists. In the 1980's, he and his Oxford colleague, Robert E. Hedges, discovered ways to extract

DNA from fossilized bones; ever since, he has been using these methods to unravel the genetic history of humans.