GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2004-09 > 1096121873


From: Doug McDonald <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Chimp, haplogroup A?
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 09:17:53 -0500
References: <00b401c4a291$4e61b3c0$6501a8c0@whit>
In-Reply-To: <00b401c4a291$4e61b3c0$6501a8c0@whit>


Whit Athey wrote:

> Doug, I am not sure that I understand your point (below) concerning
> Haplogroups A and R1a. While R1a's may not have the SRY10831a mutation that
> separates A from the other haplogroups, that does not mean that R1a is
> indistinguishable from A. The whole string of mutations leading to F, K, P,
> R, and R1 are still there. Haplogroup R1a would certainly be a "derived
> state" with respect to Haplogroup A (and F and K and P etc).

R1a is at the same state of SRY 10831 as is A. I am only referring
to this one marker here ... not all the others that separate
A from R1a.

Apparently group A is at a certain state (i.e. the A (adenine)
base), which is the same as in chimps. Thus we assume that A
(adenine) is the ancestral state for humans. There was a mutation
at SRY10831 as B and all other groups up to and including R
split off. It mutated from A to G (guanosine).

But when we get to R, and somebody had a mutation at M173,
a strange thing happened. Somebody who was R1 (had the M173
mutation) mutated BACK to A (adenine) at SRY10831, thus becoming
R1a.

>
> This is perhaps a quibble, but I think that chimps differ from humans in
> mtDNA by about 9%, which is more than 1000, but hardly "thousands."
>
I was referring not to mtDNA but to the Y chromosome.

Doug McDonald

This thread: