NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The genetic ancestry of European Americans, Latinos, and African Americans in the United States is more diverse than some might have assumed and regional differences in genetic ancestry reflect historical events, according to a new study by 23andMe and collaborators at Harvard Medical School.

The study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics today, is based on data from 23andMe customers who described themselves as belonging to one of three groups — about 148,800 European Americans, 8,700 Latinos, and 5,300 African Americans.