Yesterday, I introduced the idea of Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosome Adam, but how exactly is the ancestry traced?
Here is a link to an online simulation showing us how only one woman could be our mitochondrial ancestor.
Tracing Ancestry
According the NOVA online, three researchers studied the mtDNA of 147 people from continents all around the world. Then, these researchers used a computer program to help them put together a family tree, "grouping those with the most similar DNA together, then grouping the groups, and then grouping the groups of groups."After analyzing the data, the researches "inferred that the most recent common mtDNA ancestor was an African woman."
The three researcher went as far as trying to estimate the age of the ancestor. In order to get an estimate, they assumed that random mutations occurred at a steady rate. "And since they now had an idea of how much the mtDNA had changed from the ancestor's, all they needed was the mutation rate to determine the age of the ancestor."
There has definitely been an increase in supporting scientific evidence since this article was published in 2002, but isn't this a crazy idea to wrap your head around? Well, if you're interested and want more details, click on the link below!
Tracing Ancestry with mtDNA
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