DNA links Hawaii to Easter Island and reveals hidden disease risks

Stanford Medicine researchers analyzed genomes from over 1,000 people across Polynesia and found that Hawaii was settled by voyagers from the Easter Island region. Founder effects among Eastern Polynesians are more than 10 times stronger than in well-studied European populations, raising the frequency of rare inherited variants.

• Genomes of more than 1,000 people across Polynesia were analyzed
• Hawaii was settled from the Easter Island region via Mangareva
• Tahiti's founding population was about 800 people roughly 34 generations ago
• Founder effects in Eastern Polynesians are 10+ times stronger than in Europeans