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Science 2 January 1998:
Vol. 279. no. 5347, pp. 28 - 29
DOI: 10.1126/science.279.5347.28
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Research News

Calibrating the Mitochondrial Clock

Ann Gibbons

DNA studies of the remains of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II illustrate troubling questions in forensics and the dating of evolutionary events. The Tsar inherited two different sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from their mother, a condition known as heteroplasmy that was previously considered rare but which new studies show may occur in at least 10% and probably 20% of all humans. This may mean that mtDNA mutates perhaps as much as 20-fold faster than expected, according to two controversial studies. Since evolutionists had assumed that mtDNA mutations occur at a steady rate, these studies cast doubt over the dating of such events as the peopling of Europe. The new results are already prompting changes in DNA forensics procedures.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Evidence for Time Dependency of Molecular Rate Estimates.
S. Y. W. Ho, B. Shapiro, M. J. Phillips, A. Cooper, and A. J. Drummond (2007)
Syst Biol 56, 515-522
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African Haplogroup L mtDNA Sequences Show Violations of Clock-like Evolution.
N. Howell, J. L. Elson, D. M. Turnbull, and C. Herrnstadt (2004)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 21, 1843-1854
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Why hunter-gatherer populations do not show signs of Pleistocene demographic expansions.
L. Excoffier and S. Schneider (1999)
PNAS 96, 10597-10602
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mitochondrial DNA analysis: polymorphisms and pathogenicity.
P. F Chinnery, N. Howell, R. M Andrews, and D. M Turnbull (1999)
J. Med. Genet. 36, 505-510
   Abstract »    Full Text »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)