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Subject: Re: [DNA] In Chimpanzee DNA, Signs of Y Chromosome's Evolution.
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:31:16 EDT
In a message dated 09/01/05 2:55:56 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:
> But really, what does happen when a Y-DNA STR variance or mutation takes
> hold and is successfully transmitted to a son? Surely given the very large
> number of sperm produced constantly by a male, it can be reasonably posited
>
> that many, perhaps thousands, of such "mutations" are occuring daily, all
> the time, in all men, either by "slippage", environmental assault, or other
> unidentified mechanisms.
Yes -- in fact, one study looked at pooled sperm to estimate a mutation rate.
> We might therefore expect to see cases where only one son's descendants of
> a
> father passing on the changed "junk" Y-DNA, while the other sons descendants
>
> match with their father's unchanged Y-DNA. Has this been observed?
Yes -- we've seen cases where one brother matches his father and the other
doesn't. I think we've also seen cases where a mutation can be traced back to
one son of a distant ancestor, but you need the right configuration of
representatives for various lines of descent to demonstrate this.
Ann Turner
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