Mitochondrial Eve

[Michael]

I just stumbled across this acticle link when I was reading a different article. Being a 'hominid natural history nerd', this it is one of the best articles on the topic that I've read in a long time - it seems to be a very well written summary of the present state of research in the field - and the political minefields it must deal with. :)

The paradigm is dead, long live the paradigm (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/12/the-paradigm-is-dead-long-live-the-paradigm/)

Apparently the longstanding scientific debate about actual human origin is still not definitively settled. Personally, I've always thought the 'out of Africa' and 'mitochondrial eve' theories were a bit too sweeping in making "100%" type claims about modern humans. Seems more reasonable that these theories probably account for some '95% plus' of genetic modern humans - with some other various pre-modern-human genetic mixtures persisting to spoil the perfection of the theory. I do get a bit suspicious of perfect theories - our world tends to be a bit messy rather than neat.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this article with any who are interested.

Thoughts or comments on the topic of the article and/or human evolutionary development is always welcome - for me, this is one of the most fascenating and interesting topics of all. :)

[The Drunk Girl]

http://www.discussionworldforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=798

:)

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Well I didn't understand a damned thing from that article, about from 'bla bla bla bla bla bla'
;)

[Michael]

http://www.discussionworldforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=798

:)
Good topics come up again and again. ;)

If you can follow the present article, it gives evidence for questioning the absolute projections of the 'Mitochondrial Eve' theory.

Well I didn't understand a damned thing from that article, about from 'bla bla bla bla bla bla'
;)

Well, you have to be versed in the lingo and the issue for it to make any sense. If that's the first article you've read on the topic, then it wouldn't surprise me that it is hard to figure out. :shrug:

To put it simply, there is now substantial criticism of the Mitochondrial Eve theory and a general conclusion that it is not a complete picture - there are significant traces of surviving genotypes from pre-humans in the modern human genome - meaning that the last 'wave out of Africa' didn't completely supplant all previous pre-human types - there is evidence of some interbreeding.

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Good topics come up again and again. ;)

If you can follow the present article, it gives evidence for questioning the absolute projections of the 'Mitochondrial Eve' theory.



Well, you have to be versed in the lingo and the issue for it to make any sense. If that's the first article you've read on the topic, then it wouldn't surprise me that it is hard to figure out. :shrug:

To put it simply, there is now substantial criticism of the Mitochondrial Eve theory and a general conclusion that it is not a complete picture - there are significant traces of surviving genotypes from pre-humans in the modern human genome - meaning that the last 'wave out of Africa' didn't completely supplant all previous pre-human types - there is evidence of some interbreeding.
But surely, even if the interbreeding took place, if they could interbreed, they must have had common ancestry anyway?

And if that was the case, isn't it more likely that there was a Mitochondrial Eve?

(I'm a complete beginner in this field)

[Michael]

But surely, even if the interbreeding took place, if they could interbreed, they must have had common ancestry anyway?

And if that was the case, isn't it more likely that there was a Mitochondrial Eve?

(I'm a complete beginner in this field)
Not likely.

Our fossil record indicates that there have been various and numerous other hominid lines of descent that have died out at various times. There is evidence for several 'waves' of homos (humans) coming out of Africa to spread around the world.

The Mitochondrial Eve theory posits that ALL living homosapiens are descended from one hypothetical female (approx 250,000 years ago) meaning that all other lines of hominids and homos that have existed were eliminated or died out.

The new evidence discussed in the article suggests that this theory might not be perfectly accurate since there are traces of non-homosapien genetics existing in some homosapiens today - which indicates that there must have been some interbreeding with non-homosapiens.

There probably is a common ancestor to all of the known hominid/homo lines - but that would probably go all the way back to a common ape ancestor (some 10 million years ago).

[Donkey]

There probably is a common ancestor to all of the known hominid/homo lines - but that would probably go all the way back to a common ape ancestor (some 10 million years ago).

Yah. The concept of a mitochondrial Eve is still legitimate, it just may not have been, you know, human.

[rstones199]

On the flip side to Mitochondrial Eve, there is also a Y Chromosome Adam. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Adam)
During the human gnome project, every male that sent in there DNA to be test had one particular mutation in the Y Chromosome. That led the Y Chromosome Adam, which is to believed to have lived some 60-142Kyears ago.