Scottish lecturer's DNA found to go back to the garden of Eden

pepipop · #1 Jun 29, '12, 5:37 am

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...n-Britain.html

Ian Kinnaird, 72, has a genetic marker inherited from his mother that traces his ancestry to an African lineage that has not been found before in Western Europe.

Researchers from Britain’s DNA, who carried out the tests, said the result meant that in genetic terms he was a “thoroughbred”, and could be described as the “grandson of Eve, or the grandfather of everyone in Britain”.

They were so surprised by the results that they phoned Mr Kinnaird, a widower who lives in the far north of Scotland, to break the news to him.

They told him his mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), passed through the female line, was 30,000 years old and only two genetic mutations removed from the first woman, while most men have a genome with around 200 mutations since the earliest humans.

Alistair Moffat, the historian and rector of St Andrews University, who was involved in setting up the DNA project, said: “It is an astonishing result and means he could have been in the 'Garden of Eden’.

Blacksword · #2 Jun 29, '12, 7:05 am

I hope everyone is aware there is a lot of hyperbole going on here. Mitochondrial Eve is not thought to be the first "human" woman by scientists but rather the oldest female common ancestor of all people. In other words, there were other women before her and other women living in her time, but those women have not passed on their Mitochondrial DNA to all people living today, essentially.

pepipop · #3 Jun 29, '12, 7:57 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blacksword

I hope everyone is aware there is a lot of hyperbole going on here. Mitochondrial Eve is not thought to be the first "human" woman by scientists but rather the oldest female common ancestor of all people. In other words, there were other women before her and other women living in her time, but those women have not passed on their Mitochondrial DNA to all people living today, essentially.

I agree, who could disprove or prove their 'theory' as no-one knows.

Tarpeian Rock · #4 Jun 29, '12, 9:25 am

Haven't we all learned to beware of headlines from the UK "Telegraph" yet?

Nelka · #5 Jun 29, '12, 10:15 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by pepipop

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...n-Britain.html

Ian Kinnaird, 72, has a genetic marker inherited from his mother that traces his ancestry to an African lineage that has not been found before in Western Europe.

Researchers from Britain’s DNA, who carried out the tests, said the result meant that in genetic terms he was a “thoroughbred”, and could be described as the “grandson of Eve, or the grandfather of everyone in Britain”.

They were so surprised by the results that they phoned Mr Kinnaird, a widower who lives in the far north of Scotland, to break the news to him.

They told him his mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), passed through the female line, was 30,000 years old and only two genetic mutations removed from the first woman, while most men have a genome with around 200 mutations since the earliest humans.

Alistair Moffat, the historian and rector of St Andrews University, who was involved in setting up the DNA project, said: “It is an astonishing result and means he could have been in the 'Garden of Eden’.

Scottish nationalist rubbish.

He'll be saying London belongs to him next.

Do they have Adam & Eve's dna?

Luigi Daniele · #6 Jun 29, '12, 10:17 am

Why did I instantly picture him as the Geico cavemen?

**JharekCarnelian** · #7 Jun 30, '12, 2:46 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nelka

Scottish nationalist rubbish.

He'll be saying London belongs to him next.

Do they have Adam & Eve's dna?

What has Scottish nationalism got to do with the issue? They are not saying in any sense that they have Adam and Eve's DNA and the term Eve is not been used to refer to the Biblical character in the article.

**grannymh** · #8 Jun 30, '12, 4:11 am

A word of caution regarding this line from the posted article.

"A retired lecturer who took a DNA test to find out where his ancestors came from has been found to be directly descended from the first woman on earth, who lived 190,000 years ago."

A similar so-called test is being offered in the U.S. Here, people can pay any one of a number of companies to sequence their personal genome (methods and sequence location can vary) in order to get an estimated possibility of where their ancestors could have lived. While there are some companies which are upfront about what actually can be determined, this is definitely a case of "Buyer Beware". With some companies, buyers can also choose to receive or not receive genetic information related to inherited disease possibilities. In other words, there are a lot of things to be considered before one puts his or her cash on the barrel.