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From: wls@astrovax.UUCP (William L. Sebok)
Newsgroups: net.roots,net.women,net.flame,net.misc,net.religion
Subject: Re: A Common Female Ancestor for Everyone
Message-ID: <118@astrovax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Nov-83 19:21:32 EST
Article-I.D.: astrovax.118
Posted: Thu Nov 10 19:21:32 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Nov-83 07:50:01 EST
References: <115@astrovax.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
Lines: 17

> All living people (or at least ~99% of them) have a single common female
> ancestor on their purely maternal line. ...
> 
> This result is based on comparisons of human mitochondrial DNA taken from
> very diverse populations all over the world.  Mitochondrial DNA is passed
> along solely (i.e., asexually) by females to their offspring.  The mutation
> rate for this process is very roughly known, and this together with delicate
> measurements of differences between two individuals' mitochondrial DNA, allows
> the determination of the interval since they shared a common pure female line
> ancestor. 

Could this trick be used on the Y chromosome to estimate the time back a single
common ancestor on the purely paternal line?  Any biologists or geneticists
out there?
-- 
Bill Sebok	Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
{allegra,akgua,burl,cbosgd,decvax,ihnp4,knpo,princeton}!astrovax!wls