In Island Melanesia and Polynesia, most mtDNA haplotypes are of A...

Question

In Island Melanesia and Polynesia, most mtDNA haplotypes are of Asian ancestry, whereas Y chromosome haplotypes are predominantly New Guinean. Provide a hypothesis for this sex-biased distribution.

Accepted Answer

Everyone. Let's take a look at this question together the out of Africa migration theory and founder effect explains the basis of the predominance of certain haplotype in specific regions of the world. Which of the following statements is correct regarding these theories or hypotheses. Is it answer choice. A the out of Africa migration theory explains that all modern humans are descended from a common African ancestor as the oldest known mitochondrial DNA haplotype are found in Africa. Answer choice B, the high prevalence of unique Y haplotype in the population of New Guinea is an example of how the founder effect can shape the genetic diversity of populations over time. Answer choice C the out of Africa migration theory explains the predominance of why haplotype in New Guinea. While the founder effect gives a description of the oldest mitochondrial DNA haplotype found in Africa. Answer choice, D both answer choices A and B or answer choice E, none of the above. Let's work this problem out together to try to figure out which of the following answer choices about the out of Africa migration theory and the founder effect is correct. So first, let's recall what we know about the out of Africa migration theory, which we know that the out of Africa theory states that all moderate humans are descendants of a common African ancestor. And we know that the evidence that supports that comes from mitochondrial DNA analysis. And we also know that the oldest known mitochondrial DNA haplotype are found in Africa. So looking at our answer choices, we can see that answer choice. A which says the out of Africa migration theory explains that all modern humans are descended from that common African ancestor. Since those oldest known mitochondrial DNA haplotype are found in Africa. And Answer choice B which says that the high prevalence of unique Y haplotype in the population of New Guinea is an example of how the founder effect can shape the genetic diversity of populations over time are both correct statements regarding both the out of Africa migration theory and the founder effect. However, answer choice C which says that out of Africa migration theory explains the predominance of haplotype in New Guinea. And the founder effect gives the description of the oldest mitochondrial DNA haplotype found in Africa, which we know that answer choice C is incorrect. Since the Out of Africa migration theory explains those oldest known mitochondrial DNA haplotype that are found in Africa and not the founder effect. So answer choice A and B are both correct statements, making answer choice D, the correct answer. Since both answer choices A and answer choices B are correct statements regarding the Out of Africa migration theory and founder effect. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye.

In Island Melanesia and Polynesia, most mtDNA haplotypes are of Asian ancestry, whereas Y chromosome haplotypes are predominantly New Guinean. Provide a hypothesis for this sex-biased distribution.

Key Concepts

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)

Y Chromosome

Sex-biased Gene Flow

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