MITOCHONDRIAL EVE
Mitochondrial Eve is the name given by researchers to the woman who is
defined as the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for all currently
living humans. Passed down from mothers to offspring for over a hundred thousand
years, her mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is now found in all living humans: every
mtDNA in every living person is derived from hers. Mitochondrial Eve is the
female counterpart of Y-chromosomal Adam, the patrilineal most recent common
ancestor, although they lived at different times.
She is believed to have lived about 140,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia,
Kenya or Tanzania. The time she lived is calculated based on
the molecular clock technique of correlating elapsed time with observed genetic
drift.
Mitochondrial Eve is the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all humans via
the mitochondrial DNA pathway, not the unqualified MRCA of all humanity. All
living humans can trace their ancestry back to the MRCA via at least one of
their parents, but Mitochondrial Eve can only be reached via the maternal line.
Therefore, she necessarily lived much longer ago than the MRCA of all humanity.
The existence of Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam does not imply the
existence of population bottlenecks or a first couple. They each lived within a
large human population at a different time. Some of their contemporaries have no
living descendants today, and others are ancestors of all people alive today. No
contemporary of Mitochondrial Eve or Y-chromosomal Adam is an ancestor of only a
subset of people alive today, because both of them lived much longer ago than
the identical ancestors point.
Mitochondrial Eve is the name given by researchers to the woman who is
defined as the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for all currently
living humans. Passed down from mothers to offspring for over a hundred thousand
years, her mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is now found in all living humans: every
mtDNA in every living person is derived from hers. Mitochondrial Eve is the
female counterpart of Y-chromosomal Adam, the patrilineal most recent common
ancestor, although they lived at different times.
She is believed to have lived about 140,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia,
Kenya or Tanzania. The time she lived is calculated based on
the molecular clock technique of correlating elapsed time with observed genetic
drift.
Mitochondrial Eve is the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all humans via
the mitochondrial DNA pathway, not the unqualified MRCA of all humanity. All
living humans can trace their ancestry back to the MRCA via at least one of
their parents, but Mitochondrial Eve can only be reached via the maternal line.
Therefore, she necessarily lived much longer ago than the MRCA of all humanity.
The existence of Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam does not imply the
existence of population bottlenecks or a first couple. They each lived within a
large human population at a different time. Some of their contemporaries have no
living descendants today, and others are ancestors of all people alive today. No
contemporary of Mitochondrial Eve or Y-chromosomal Adam is an ancestor of only a
subset of people alive today, because both of them lived much longer ago than
the identical ancestors point.