GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-02 > 1171593507


From: Vincent Vizachero <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] TMRCA
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:38:27 -0600
References: <KHEKIJEABJGJEKDPFEDMIEOEDDAA.elizabethod@eircom.net>
In-Reply-To: <KHEKIJEABJGJEKDPFEDMIEOEDDAA.elizabethod@eircom.net>


On Feb 15, 2007, at 5:40 PM, Elizabeth O'Donoghue wrote:

>
>
>
> Ken, the mutation rates of Zhivotovsky are posted on John McEwan's
> site
> http://www.geocities.com/mcewanjc/p3asd.htm. They are not the same
> as the
> ones you mentioned. This is an indication of the disparity that I was
> pointing out at the beginning of this discussion.

The function of a TMRCA calculator is to establish the probability
that two people share a common ancestor within a given (genealogical)
period of time. Pedigree rates are the appropriate rates to input
into a TMRCA calculator, and I don't think there is much dispute that
the rates published by John Chandler in the Journal of Genetic
Genealogy last fall are the best estimates of mutation rates for the
most commonly used markers.

Zhivotovsky et al. were looking at a different problem (estimating
the age of populations) and the rates they use in their study are not
appropriate inputs for a TMRCA.

Vince

This thread: