Palscience

Author: Qossay Takroori

All mankind descended from one woman named Eve.  From DNA research, many scientists also believe that all human’s stem from one particular female they call her mitochondrial Eve. Using genetics, many studies have been done to trace the human ancestry back to one woman who lived about , 130,000 - 200,000 years ago.

Scientists used a variety of ways to investigate the human evolutionary relationship and prove that all humankind came from one woman.  In order for the scientists to be able to trace the mtDNA and analyze it, they used individuals from widely spread geographic areas, for example, Japan, Europe, Africa and other western countries.  However, some other scientists decided to study the mtDNA from people in in different regions in African only. Since the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and has its own DNA, scientists extracted the mtDNA from a placenta that was obtained from an African woman from Uganda. Also, they extracted the mtDNA from other people from Europe and Japan, in order to compare the nucleotide sequence from the sample from Africa to the samples from the other regions.

With the help of software technology, scientists constructed different types of diagrams and charts to help them compare the different sequences in the mtDNA nucleotide sites. Moreover, they calculated the mutation rate within these groups of people.  with these data from the mtDNA that was extracted from people from all over the world, scientists started to study the information they collected in order for them to determine which population was the oldest and where this population was actually located.

Using these chars, researchers looked at the sequences, and based on the difference within these groups, they concluded that the African population was the oldest, because the differences within the African population were greater thatn those in the other populations. They also said that having more sequence differences within the population, indicates that population had more time for mutation to occur thatn in the other populations; as a result the African population are the oldest. Even though scientists were able to prove that all human have derived from one woman, the age of this mtDNA is still unclear. However, once the human DNA mutation rate was determined and calculated, scientists concluded that the age of the mtDNA is only 6000 years old. Their belief was actually based on some research that was done in the past that led to the assumption that the mutation rate happedn more rapidly that it was calculated previously.

To conclude, scientists said that by looking at the DNA sequence on the mtDNA, its feasible to show that we all come from particular female. This conclusion didn’t come from only one research projects, but many scientists from all over the world put their effort and collboration of knowledge toward the research of the African Eve hypothesis. Many interesting results have shown that the African populations were oldest of all the population, which indicates that Eve was from Africa and we all descended from that mother. Unfortunately, scientist dont know exactly the age of that mtDNA and there are several arguments between scientist regarding the age of Eve. So, scientists still has to prove the age of mtDNA.