When ultratravelers spread their genes to Hawaii

Amazing stuff! Thor Heyerdahl is smiling!

"In brief

• Stanford Medicine researchers analyzed the genomes of over 1,000 Polynesians, tracing ancient seafarers from Easter Island as the likely settlers of Hawaii across 7,000 kilometers of ocean.
• Researchers found that Native Hawaiians carry founder effects more than 10 times stronger than those documented in European groups like the Amish, concentrating certain rare disease variants.
• Researchers say the findings highlight an urgent need for genetic screening guidelines and research resources for Native Hawaiians, a population currently underserved by genetic testing.

..."

"... the study analyzes whole-genome sequences from 1,050 individuals across Polynesia. The findings offer genomic evidence of the extraordinary skill, knowledge and achievement of Polynesian voyagers, whose mastery of long-distance ocean travel helped shape the genetic history of the Pacific. ...

The researchers also incorporated data from Rapa Nui, Native Hawaiians, Samoans and Tongans.

The analysis found that Hawaiʻi and Rapa Nu i — two of the most geographically distant Polynesian populations — are also the most closely genetically related among the remote island populations studied. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

In humans, population bottlenecks have been demonstrated to result in founder effects, in which the population has a skewed sampling of alleles from the previous population, and this can lead to a higher prevalence of some Mendelian disorders. Studying the genomes of individuals from populations across Polynesia, Shanks et al. found that these populations experienced population bottlenecks more extreme than other noted founder populations such as the Finnish, and that there was an increase in effect intensity with subsequent migrations. The authors also identified known autosomal-recessive disease variants at higher than usual frequencies due to these founder effects, which has implications for clinical guidance in these populations. ...

Abstract

Founder effects can lead to strong, population-specific allele frequency differentiation, including autosomal recessive conditions. Their characterization in European-descent groups, such as the Finnish and Amish, has resulted in actionable genetic tests for each.

We show that Polynesians experienced order-of-magnitude stronger cumulative founder effects during their settlement of Eastern Polynesia. Using whole-genome sequences spanning Polynesia, we show that two of the most bottlenecked populations are Hawaiʻi and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and that these two most closely genetically related yet geographically distant islands were likely settled by the same ultravoyagers with earlier ancestral roots in Mangareva. We identify clinical genetic variation generated by this sequence of successive oceanic founder events, including a loss-of-function FAN1 mutation common in Eastern Polynesia (>1%) but entirely absent from gnomAD."

Genetic study reveals surprising origin of Native Hawaiians | Stanford Report "An extensive genomic analysis suggests Hawaii’s first settlers were the most capable sailors of their time, crossing 7,000 kilometers of open ocean to reach their new home."

Polynesian Wayfinding Is Written in the Genomes of Island Populations (original news release) "UC San Diego research reveals how Polynesian seafaring shaped the genomes of island populations, offering new clues to health risks and medical discoveries in rarely studied communities"

Message in a bottleneck: Nested founder effects from French Polynesia to Rapa Nui and Hawaiʻi (no public access)

Cover page of Science journal December 2026