3.3 Mitochondrial DNA+

What percent of the human genome is from neanderthals?

1-4% of Eurasian human genome is derived from neanderthal DNA.

What does the DNA of Denisovans suggest?

Analysis on Denisovan teeth shows that they have a common ancestor with neanderthals. It also shows that 3-6% of DNA of modern Asians, Melanesians, and Aboriginal Australians and others in Oceania. Suggesting interbreeding

What happens to mtDNA during recombination?

Mitochondria are found in eggs but not the head of sperm cells, therefore mtDNA is only inherited from mothers. mtDNA does not recombine during meiosis. The process of recombination in nuclear DNA mixes sections of DNA from the mother and father, creating a garbled genetic history.

What is mtDNA?

Mitochondrial DNA, found in the mitochondria. mtDNA is totally separate from nuclear DNA in chromosomes.

Was mitochondrial eve the only women?

Mitochondrial eve was not the only women alive but lived in a population which would have contained many other women with other mtDNA sequences. However over time all other lineages would have died out leaving on hers.

What does the lack of Neanderthal DNA in Africans mean?

Since there is no trace of Neanderthal DNA in modern Africans it can be assumed a small population of H. sapiens met and interbred with neanderthals.

What are the Denisovans?

They are a new species that was found to be both different to neanderthals and modern humans. only three finger bones have been found but it is thought they lived 41,000 years ago.

How does the mtDNA vary?

This means that the variation in mtDNA between individuals can only be caused by mutation. The rate of mutation is fairly consistent and so acts as a biological clock as they can be tracked back in time.

When was the last common ancestor?

on testing 137 people a common ancestor was found to have lived around 100 to 200 thousand years ago. Known as Mitochondrial eve