Mitochondrial Eve

Lore & Background

Early research in the late 1970s to early 1980s by Allan Wilson, Mark Stoneking, Rebecca L. Cann, and Wesley Brown found that mutation in human mitochondrial DNA was unexpectedly fast. Using data from 21 human individuals, Brown published the first estimate on the age of the mt-MRCA at 180,000 years ago in 1980. By 1985, data from the mtDNA of 145 women and two cell lines were available, leading to a 1987 publication in Nature concluding that all current human mtDNA originated from a single population from Africa, dated between 140,000 and 200,000 years ago.

Reader's Guide

Mitochondrial Eve is significant because her estimated age supports the recent African origin model for modern humans, challenging the multiregional hypothesis. However, the concept has been subject to controversy and misrepresentation. Critics like Alan Templeton (1997) argued the study did not support a recent global replacement of humans out of Africa. Later research, including a 2013 study based on genome sequencing of 69 people from 9 populations, reported the age of Mitochondrial Eve between 99 and 148 kya, consistent with the original 140–200 kya estimate. The name 'Mitochondrial Eve' alludes to the biblical Eve, leading to misconceptions; she is not a 'first woman' or the only female of her time, and her position can shift forward as lineages become extinct.

Did You Know?

• The name 'Mitochondrial Eve' was not used in the original 1987 paper; it first appeared in a 1987 article by Cann in 'The Sciences' and a Science article by Roger Lewin.
• Allan Wilson, one of the researchers, preferred the term 'Lucky Mother' and thought the use of 'Eve' was 'regrettable.'
• The male analog, Y-chromosomal Adam, is estimated to have lived around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, not necessarily at the same time as Mitochondrial Eve.
• Mitochondrial Eve is defined by the divergence of macro-haplogroup L into L0 and L1–6, and she must predate the emergence of L0.