mitochondrial Eve

Cultural  

1. When the original analysis of the DNA in the mitochondria of modern humans was carried out, the results suggested that all modern humans share the DNA of a single individual female who lived a few hundred thousand years ago. This female was named Eve in reference to the Creation story in the Book of Genesis in the Bible (see also Bible).

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Further research has largely discredited the notion of a single Eve, although scientists have found that modern humans are descended from a very small population, perhaps as few as five thousand individuals.

Example Sentences

Her use of an Eve character also nods to the scientific findings of the Mitochondrial Eve, which is the name given to the single common female African ancestor believed, based on mitochondrial DNA sequences, to be the genetic beginnings of all present-day humans.

From New York Times

Going all the way back, we all share two “uber-grandparents, the real Adam and Eve,” known by geneticists as Y-Chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve.

From The Guardian

DNA research conducted in 1987 suggested a common, African ancestor for all humans alive today: “mitochondrial Eve”, who lived around 200,000 years ago.

From The Guardian

We all have complicated heritages, mostly mysterious -- and everyone alive springs from the same ultra-mysterious ancestral great-great-grandmother 50,000 times removed or even more, a proverbial "Mitochondrial Eve".

From New York Times

That’s why she’s called Mitochondrial Eve.

From National Geographic