Torroni Antonio, Achilli Alessandro, Macaulay Vincent, Richards Martin, Bandelt Hans-Jürgen
Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Trends Genet. 2006 Jun;22(6):339-45. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2006.04.001. Epub 2006 May 4.
Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies have entered a new phase since the blossoming of complete genome analyses. Sequencing complete mtDNAs is more expensive and more labour intensive than restriction analysis or simply sequencing the control region of the molecule. But the efforts are paying off, as the phylogenetic resolution of the mtDNA tree has been greatly improved, and, in turn, phylogeographic interpretations can be given correspondingly greater precision in terms of the timing and direction of human dispersals. Therefore, despite mtDNA being only a fraction of our total genome, the deciphering of its evolution is profoundly changing our perception about how modern humans spread across our planet. Here we illustrate the phylogeographic approach with two case studies: the initial dispersal out of Africa, and the colonization of Europe.
自从完整基因组分析蓬勃发展以来，人类线粒体DNA（mtDNA）研究进入了一个新阶段。对完整的mtDNA进行测序比限制性分析或仅仅对该分子的控制区域进行测序成本更高，劳动强度也更大。但这些努力正在得到回报，因为mtDNA系统发育树的系统发育分辨率有了很大提高，相应地，在人类迁徙的时间和方向方面，系统地理学解释也能有更高的精度。因此，尽管mtDNA只是我们整个基因组的一小部分，但对其进化的解读正在深刻改变我们对现代人类如何在地球上扩散的认知。在这里，我们通过两个案例研究来说明系统地理学方法：首次从非洲迁出以及欧洲的殖民化。
