Peopling of the Americas as inferred through the analysis of mtDNA

BIANCHI, N. O.; BAILLIET, G.; BRAVI, C. M.

Revista Brasileira de Genetica

Sociedade Brasileira de Genética

Año: 1995 vol. 18 p. 661 - 668

MtDNA has been extesively employed employed to trace the origins and migration patterns of Amerindians. THe advantage of mtDNA over nuclear DNA is thta it accumulates base changes at an average rate 5-to times faster than single-copy nuclear DNSA does, which makes it suitable for the analysis of DNA differences among human population. Morover, its maternal inheritance and lack of recombination allow determination of phylogenetic divergence among lineages, without the ambiguities caused by the meiotic shuffling and mixing undergone by nuclear genes.