Mungo man MtDNA sequencing & dating of Mungo finds.?

Question

Several old friends (Anthropology Proffs) of mine have almost come to blows over dating of Mungo man & MtDNA results of the find. Needless to say, one is an "out of Africa" buff while the other subscribes to the "regional evolution" of Homo Sapien. Is any project underway to do a complete genome sequencing of the find, using the new technology being used on Neandertal? I've been told Mungo man's MtDNA is closer to neandertal, than to modern sapien, despite the modern appearance of the skeleton? Any new data or enlightenment on this? Dating varies from 42,000 to 66,000 on this find... much dispute over methods.

Coop: They are indeed very close, however Mungo man, found in Australia, does not descend from the Mitrochondrial Eve that evolved in Africa some 140,000 yrs ago, as all modern humans seem to do.

Mathilda: Thanks, I'm famililar with the Bradshaw paintings... intresting that they were "carved or etched" into the rock. Too bad we've not been able to properly date them or determine just exactly how they were painted.

Coop: Here's the deal on MtDNA. It is only passed down by the mother, therefore if a woman has only sons, they will not pass down her MtDNA as the children will pass down the MtDNA of the mother. The opposite is true of the Y chromosome... only the males will pass this chromosome to their male children. However, many chances for other gene mixing without it being evident in subsequence generations exist.

Chin: indeed... that is why we have 2 camps on this.

Answer 1

Mungo man's mitochondrial DNA pre-dates our modern mitochondrial Eve by a lot, more like Neanderthals, it's true. I think the latest date for him was 40 k years, give or take.

There is some evidence that a previous wave of human colonists made it out of Africa a REALLY long time ago and into Australia. They are thought to be the pre Aboriginal people who painted the Bradshaw paintings. These are seriously old rock paintings in Australia. This could explain why the odd mt DNA comes from, an archaic human population that failed to establish itself in the modern mtDNA lineages we have today. Could have been H.Erectus though. No-one knows for sure.

The find was too old to do full sequence on. There was only just enough viable matter to get a mt DNA sample.

Here's a link to the Bradshaw paintings, it's a useful site for this kind of subject.

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/bradshaws/

Answer 2

I have not heard of the information but this is interesting, would like to hear more. What I can not see how we all come from one person? In line breeding you have to be careful not to cross siblings or litter mates. To me the DNA of the Aborigines, the Eskimos, the Siberians and one of the central African tribes should be compared. Those should be close if we come from one line.

Answer 3

interesting. the peking man might be "regional evolution ' too.