Eyre-Walker A
Centre for the Study of Evolution and School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2000 Nov 29;355(1403):1573-80. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2000.0718.
Until very recently, mitochondria were thought to be clonally inherited through the maternal line in most higher animals. However, three papers published in 2000 claimed population-genetic evidence of recombination in human mitochondrial DNA. Here I review the current state of the debate. I review the evidence for the two main pathways by which recombination might occur: through paternal leakage and via a mitochondrial DNA sequence in the nuclear genome. There is no strong evidence for either pathway, although paternal leakage seems a definite possibility. However, the population-genetic evidence, although not conclusive, is strongly suggestive of recombination in mitochondrial DNA. The implications of non-clonality for our understanding of human and mitochondrial evolution are discussed.
直到最近，人们还认为在大多数高等动物中，线粒体是通过母系进行克隆遗传的。然而，2000年发表的三篇论文声称有群体遗传学证据表明人类线粒体DNA存在重组现象。在此，我将回顾这场争论的现状。我将审视重组可能发生的两种主要途径的证据：通过父系渗漏以及经由核基因组中的线粒体DNA序列。虽然父系渗漏似乎确实有可能，但这两种途径都没有确凿的证据。不过，群体遗传学证据尽管并非结论性的，却强烈暗示线粒体DNA存在重组现象。本文还将讨论非克隆性对于我们理解人类和线粒体进化的意义。
