scottish_beekeeper
scottish_beekeeper t1_iv1mgnf wrote
Reply to comment by TikkiTakiTomtom in Why don't we have Neandertal mitochondrial DNA? by nodeciapalabras
Mitochondria 'merged' with other archaea to give rise to eukaryotes, probably around 2-3 billion years ago.
scottish_beekeeper t1_iv0hfil wrote
Mitochondria pass down 'intact' from mother to child in the egg - there is no 'mixing' of DNA as there is with sperm-egg fertilisation, where the resulting nuclear DNA in the child is a mixture of paternal and maternal DNA.
For there to be no mitochondrial Neandarthal DNA in current humans, this means that there are no current offspring descended from a female Neandarthal ancestor. That is, there is no unbroken line of daughters.
This potentially implies (but doesn't guarantee) one or more of the following:
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Male Sapiens-Female Neanderthal reproduction did not produce female offspring, or produced sterile females.
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Male sapiens were unable to reproduce successfully with female Neandarthals
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There were Sapiens with Neandarthal mitochondria at one point, but none remain in our population (or have ever been discovered).
scottish_beekeeper t1_jedrk6c wrote
Reply to comment by disengaged22 in Virgin Orbit fails to secure funding, will cease operations and lay off nearly entire workforce by getBusyChild
Wait, are you talking about Virgin Orbit or BuzzFeed there...?