Mitochondrial Eve: What is it? Where did it come from?

Specktor, Brandon. “Scientists Think They’ve Found ‘Mitochondrial Eve’s’ First Homeland.” LiveScience, LiveScience, 28 Oct. 2019, www.livescience.com/mitochondrial-eve-first-human-homeland.html. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

This article goes back to the roots of one of the oldest DNA lineages on Earth. Specktor writes about a new discovery in the origin of Mitochondrial Eve and how it left its place of birth. He also gives the age of the gene, describes how strong it is, who can carry it, and when it began to travel.

Scientists believe that two hundred thousand years ago, the earliest common ancestors of humans stood up a green oasis in the middle of Africa’s Kalahari Desert. This oasis, now extinct, is called the Makgadikgadi paleo wetland. Specktor states that our great ancestors stayed there for tens of thousands of years, but left due to climate change. Climate change made the neighboring lands become greener and habitable enough to lure the ancestors into those areas where various indigenous groups still live today. L0, an array of genes is passed down through mothers. It is encoded in the mitochondria of its inhibitors and has survived in its original form in some populations for many years (hundreds of thousands). Past similar studies have connected the earliest ancestors to regions of Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa. L0 lineage is mostly found in Khoisan people, the indigenous Southern African groups. Researchers call Makgadikgadi the homeland. Mitochondria Eve and its descendants lived 30,000 years in Makgadikgadi (from 200,000 to 170,000 years ago) before L0 split into its first subunit. Specktor writes that although researchers were entirely sure that they found the exact origin of the Eve gene, her male counterpart’s origin is believed to be on the opposite of the continent. The male-inherited Y-chromosomes are found in West Africa, not the South. Y-chromosome’s ancestors may have walked a path similar to Eve genes. It is possible that humans may have had multiple homelands, but as of now, it is too early to pinpoint the exact place of origin for all.

Two quotes that I thought were interesting are:

“Mitochondrial DNA accounts for just a fraction of your genome, with the bulk of your DNA locked away in cell nuclei.”

“Using climate models and sediment-core samples from the area, the team found that, from roughly 130,000 to 110,000 years ago, changing rainfall patterns opened up several ‘green corridors’ of habitable land in the desert around Makgadikgadi.”