Literature Review

Molecular data is increasingly used in the study of the origin of modern humans. Several molecular markers are available for study, however the most widely used is mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). In 1987 Rebecca Cann, Allan Wilson and Mark Stoneking published the seminal paper demonstrating the power of mtDNA as a tool for analyzing human origins. Since then, a large body of literature has been published disputing their findings. Most commonly cited points of disagreement concern sample size, sample sources, molecular markers and lack of adequate statistical tests. In this study, human mtDNA diversity is considered. A large sample of mtDNA sequences from the D-loop region of individuals from diverse origins will be selected from MitBase (a database available on the World Wide Web). It is the aim of this research to use this data to reanalyze Cann, Wilson and Stoneking's work. Through the use of a separate data set, the attempt will be made to generate similar conclusions as previous studies such as Cann, Wilson and Stoneking's. Proceed [Mitochondrial DNA Databases] [LIT. REVIEW] [DATA] [ANALYSIS] [CONCLUSION] [REF. CITED] http://www.soa.ilstu.edu/anthropology/theses/babrowski/babrowski.html [11/30/2007 1:19:57 PM] Mitochondrial DNA Databases A Comparative Study of Sequences Derived From Mitochondrial DNA Databases Applied To the Question Of the Origin Of Modern Humans