The Sound Of Settled Science

This phenomenon was reported in 2002, and I’ve mentioned it a couple of times here,  but it seems to have been largely ignored.

Biparental Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA in Humans

The energy-producing organelle mitochondrion contains its own compact genome, which is separate from the nuclear genome. In nearly all mammals, this mitochondrial genome is inherited exclusively from the mother, and transmission of paternal mitochondria or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has not been convincingly demonstrated in humans. In this paper, we have uncovered multiple instances of biparental inheritance of mtDNA spanning three unrelated multiple generation families, a result confirmed by independent sequencing across multiple unrelated laboratories with different methodologies. Surprisingly, this pattern of inheritance appears to be determined in an autosomal dominantlike manner. This paper profoundly alters a widespread belief about mitochondrial inheritance and potentially opens a novel field in mitochondrial medicine.

Bad news for the evolutionary genetics set, so I assume they’ll ignore this too.

8 Replies to “The Sound Of Settled Science”

  1. Interesting, if rare [& all the examples appear to be ill]
    Nor does the evolutionary use require mtDNA, since whole-genome studies are taking over the field.

    This book is about the genome revolution in the study of the human past. This revolution consists of the avalanche of discoveries based on data taken from the whole genome—meaning, the entire genome analyzed at once instead of just small stretches of it such as mitochondrial DNA.
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    .
    The first five ancient human genomes were published in 2010: a few archaic Neanderthal genomes,10 the archaic Denisova genome,11 and an approximately four-thousand-year-old individual from Greenland.12 The next few years saw the publication of genome-wide data from five additional humans, followed by a burst of data from thirty-eight individuals in 2014. But in 2015, whole-genome analysis of ancient DNA went into hyperdrive. Three papers added genome-wide datasets from another sixty-six,13 then one hundred,14 and then eighty-three samples.15 By August 2017, my laboratory alone had generated genome-wide data for more than three thousand ancient samples. We are now producing data so fast that the time lag between data production and publication is longer than the time it takes to double the data in the field.

    Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
    David Reich 2018

  2. Thank you so very much Kate for this article. One never wants to initiate a bun fight with a daughter, so l held my breath and tongue when her DNA results came back with lots of Norse roots, which she happily attributed to her dad’s genes. Some were expected by my research, but tracing the MtDna through the maternal line would lead one to a mostly British norm profile. I tried to do some research to figure out why her maternal profile was so Norse, given that the only Norse roots I researched were on my husband’s side and possibly my own, back to the Viking era.

    You have done a lot of research on dog breeding, I have noted, so thank you for keeping us up to date on people breeding.

  3. L- Not an expert on this field at all, but if your British ancestors were from the north of England, especially the north east, I wouldn’t be surprised that genetic markers would show you as Norse. That area was settled by people from Scandinavia, and they would keep those genes aren’t going to suddenly vanish

  4. “if your British ancestors were from the north of England, especially the north east, I wouldn’t be surprised that genetic markers would show you as Norse. That area was settled by people from Scandinavia”
    Settled? The Norman invaders supplanted or drove the existing people out, especially those with defiant ideas. ‘Resistance was futile’.

    1. It;’s good to see that the average SDAers grasp of the history of the British Isles is as sound as their grasp of technology.

  5. As usual, the media/political cartel is way behind those that are interested in the affairs of men.

    People here at SDA knew and debated this a number of times in the past.

    Of course the difference is that they have the mouthpiece and some do commit willful act of journalism.

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