Sunday, September 18, 2005

mtDNA, selection and paleoanthropology   posted by Razib @ 9/18/2005 04:29:00 PM
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John has an interesting post up which reviews data that certain high latitude mtDNA lineages might confer a functional advantage via reduced metabolic overhead and greater longevity. Of course, as John notes, not only does this have great relevance for the deep-time history of our species, it is going to be a serious issue for the possibility of future paperback editions of The Seven Daughters of Eve or The Real Eve (since they assume neutrality for mtDNA, ergo, it gives us an unbiased phylogenetic map).