Q185 / 200 · NEET 2003 · Zoology

In recent years, DNA sequences (nucleotide sequence) of $m t$ DNA and Y chromosomes were considered for the study of human evolution, because:

  • A
    they are small and therefore, easy to study
  • Correct answer
    B
    they are uniparental in origin and do not take part an recombination
  • C
    their structure is known in greater detail
  • D
    they can be studied from the samples of fossil remains

Solution

Sequence of both $m t$ DNA and $\mathrm{Y}$ chromosomes are considered for the study of human evolution because they are uniparental in origin. mtDNA is inherited along with the maternal cytoplasm and $\mathrm{Y}$ chromosome is inherited from father. So they do not take part in recombination. In addition, mtDNA has a higher mutation rate then nuclear DNA so that it is more useful for short term evolutionary studies. Related Theory The Ychromosomeisinheritedfromthefather; therefore, paternal social class was included in the Y chromosome analysis. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother; thus, maternal social class was included in the analysis along with paternal social class for mitochondrial DNA. More than $27 \%$ of the variance in Y-haplogroups can be attributed to differences between populations, whereas mtDNA showed much lower heterogeneity between populations (less than 5\%), suggesting a strong influence of patrilocal social structure.

Hence, the correct answer is option: 'B'.

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