MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, School of Life Sciences and Department of History, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
J Hum Genet. 2012 Mar;57(3):216-8. doi: 10.1038/jhg.2011.147. Epub 2011 Dec 22.
Emperor CAO Cao (155AD-220AD) is one of the most famous persons in Chinese history that had changed the history of East Asia. He claimed to be a descendant of Marquis CAO Can and therefore was of aristocratic ancestry. However, this claim has been suspected for around 1800 years. Here, we collected some present clans with full records of 70-100 generations claimed to be descendants of CAO Cao or CAO Can, and validated them by comparing their Y chromosomes. Haplotype O2-M268 is the only one that is enriched significantly in the Emperor's claimed descendant clans (P=9.323 × 10(-5), odds ratio=12.72) and, therefore, is most likely to be that of the Emperor. Moreover, our analysis showed that the Y chromosome haplotype of the Emperor is different from that of the Marquis (Haplotype O3-002611). Therefore, Emperor CAO Cao's claim was not supported by genetic evidence. This study offers a successful showcase of the utility of genetics in studying the ancient history.
曹操（155 年-220 年）是中国历史上最著名的人物之一，他改变了东亚的历史。他自称是曹参侯爵的后裔，因此出身贵族。然而，这种说法已经被怀疑了大约 1800 年。在这里，我们收集了一些有完整的 70-100 代记录的自称是曹操或曹参后裔的现存家族，并通过比较他们的 Y 染色体进行了验证。单倍型 O2-M268 是唯一在皇帝声称的后裔家族中显著富集的单倍型（P=9.323×10(-5)，优势比=12.72），因此最有可能是皇帝的单倍型。此外，我们的分析表明，皇帝的 Y 染色体单倍型与侯爵的不同（单倍型 O3-002611）。因此，遗传证据并不支持曹操皇帝的说法。本研究成功地展示了遗传学在研究古代历史中的应用。
