bioRxivEvolutionary Biology
Counterbalancing the time-dependence effect on the human mitochondrial DNA molecular clock
Abstract
We propose a new method for estimating the coalescent age of phylogenetically related sequences that takes into account the observed time dependency of molecular rate estimates. Applying this method to human mitochondrial DNA data we have obtained significantly older ages for the main events of human evolution than in previous estimates. These ages are in close agreement with the most recent archaeological and paleontological records.
- organism: human
- assay: DNA methylation
- assay: whole-genome sequencing
- research focus: phylogenetics / evolution
- approach: statistical model
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