Re: The indo european "race"

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "ehlsmith" <ehlsmith@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "John" <jdcroft@...> wrote:
> > Piotr wrote
> >
> > > In evolutionary biology, the method works rather well
> > > in establishing phylogenies above the level of the species, but
> not
> > > within species, where in the absence of reproductive barriers
> > > reticulation does away with family-tree structures.
> >
> > It also works on the mother's mother's mother's ....-> lineage

for

> > mitochondrial DNA and for father's father's father's ....->

lineage

> > for the Y Chromosome. Since everyone is the creation of 2

parents,

> 4
> > grandparents, 8..., 16... the MtDNA and the Y DNA forms the

extreme

> > sides of the fan of lineages that make up an individual.
> >
>
> True, but rather than establishing the validity of intraspecies
> family tree structures, doesn't this fact really serve to

demonstrate

> the limitations of MtDNA and Y DNA analysis in determining a
> populations' ancestry? The further back you go, the smaller the
> percentage of the ancestry revealed by the method.
>

Even worse, apparently mtDNA doesn't necessarily mean maternal DNA:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/294808.stm

Torsten