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DNA Genealogy (Anatole Klyosov; Russian 'Patriotic Science')

Here's some background on Anatole Klyosov and his "DNA genealogy" ...
Anatole A. Klyosov (born 20 November 1946) is a Russian scientist who worked in the fields of physical chemistry, enzyme catalysis, and industrial biochemistry. In 1989 Klyosov immigrated to the US. He spent most of his career developing ways to use enzymes to convert agricultural waste products into useful products ... In 2008 he began publishing work on DNA genealogy that has been dismissed as pseudoscience. ...

From 2008 Klyosov is also known as the author of what he calls "DNA genealogy" and "new science", aimed to synthesize biology, anthropology, archaeology and linguistics and to implement methods of chemical kinetics in genetics. Klyosov described his "DNA genealogy" as a "patriotic science" and between 2010 and 2016 published 10 books in this field. In some of his writings Klyosov tried to refute the Out of Africa hypothesis and proposed his alternative Into Africa theory with "outlandish claims" that the human species originated in Northern Russia.According to scientists from various fields, "DNA genealogy" is pseudoscience, and they have characterized it as "DNA demagoguery”.

Klyosov is the founder and president of the Academy of DNA Genealogy ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatole_Klyosov
 
This 2016 article associates the DNA genealogy of Klyosov with other "patriotic science" movements widely considered to be pseudoscience.
Putin’s Great Patriotic Pseudoscience

Russia has a proud history of scientific inquiry and advancement. Now the Kremlin is investing in academic kooks and conspiracies. ...

Science is under assault in the land that has produced some 17 Nobel Prize winners in the sciences. It’s not just that funding has been slashed (though it has) or that the field struggles with corruption and brain drain (though it does). Members of the scientific community say one of the biggest issues they face is the recent embrace of pseudoscientists like Yermakova by the Russian state. The Kremlin has elevated and institutionalized their ideas, often mixing them with a healthy dose of anti-Western rhetoric for good measure. ...

Meanwhile, the growing link between nationalism and pseudoscience has allowed pseudoscientists to accuse their critics of being unpatriotic Russophobes. Anatole Klyosov, a Russian biochemist who worked in the United States before veering off into genetics, last year opened a Moscow-based “academy” for DNA genealogy, a field he claims to have discovered and upholds as a “patriotic science.” In the 10 books he has published since 2010, Klyosov has advanced outlandish claims, including the idea that the human species originated in the Russian North and that the view that humans derived from Africa is an expression of Western political correctness.

In 2015, a group of scientists from various fields wrote an open letter saying Klyosov’s writing could fuel hatred by “attracting readers whose nationalist and political ambitions are not satisfied with the world’s scientific body of knowledge.” Klyosov responded in his latest book, which he called Lies, Insinuations, and Russophobia in Modern Russian Science, dismissing his critics as members of a “fifth column.” ...
FULL STORY: https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/29/putins-great-patriotic-pseudoscience/
 
This 2015(?) UCL webpage on debunking pseudoscience cites Klyosov’s work.
Problematical theories

Some authors manage to attract attention to their favoured theories while avoiding the scrutiny of academic peer review. They may bypass the peer review process by publishing their ideas in a book, or in what appear to be legitimate scientific journals, but which may only have a facade of academic respectability. The growth of open access publishing (which generates income by charging fees to authors for publishing their papers) has led to many new journals, some with low standards, and it can be difficult for the casual reader to distinguish between the legitimate and the quasi-scientific journals. ...

The Into Africa hypothesis
The Into Africa hypothesis has been proposed by Anatole Klyosov, a chemist from Russia who is now living in America. He writes prolifically on the subject of what he calls “DNA genealogy”. His research is almost all self-published. Klyosov is the editor of Advances in Anthropology published by the questionable open access publisher Scientific Research Publishing. None of the members of the journal's editorial board has a background in population genetics. Klyosov has published two articles in this journal (2012 and 2014) supposedly refuting the Out of Africa hypothesis and proposing his alternative Into Africa theory. But these papers focus on a questionable analysis of Y-DNA and mtDNA which are of limited value for inferences about human origins. (Y-DNA and mtDNA tests can, however, be used legitimately for genealogical purposes.)

In January 2015, a group of leading Russian academics published a letter in the popular science magazine Troitskii Variant denouncing Anatole Klyosov’s “DNA demagoguery”. ...
FULL STORY: https://web.archive.org/web/20190202060943/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/debunking/theories
 
I notice that they focus on denigrating his work by association: published in the wrong kind of journal, that "leading academics" have refuted his work. They go on to say that his work has "questionable analysis of Y-DNA and mtDNA" but don't elaborate on why his analysis is questionable.

I personally don't think he is right, I do think the mainstream out of Africa hypothesis is probably correct, but the debunking is not particularly convincing nor scientific in its approach. No hypothesis should be dismissed simply because the researcher is not a professional in that field. After all, many scientific breakthroughs have been by amateurs researching fields that they were dangerously underqualified in. Instead such hypothesis should be examined fairly and reviewed on the basis of its claims.
 
As long as Klyosov evades peer review by self-publishing there's little chance anyone will invest the effort to critically examine the bases for his claims.
 
Fine, but articles published to rubbish his reputation can be held to a reasonable standard too.
 
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