h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mitochondrial 'Eve' is the name given specifically to the woman who was the most recent common ancestor of all the mitochondria that all *humans* possess.

Mitochondria themselves are probably, as someone said, bacteria which merged with other cells. Bacteria are prokaryotes, and the cells they formed when they combined are eukaryotes, amoebas and the like, which have nuclei in their cells. They also have organelles, such as mitochondria, whose genetic material is maintained separately to the nucleus. They are present in all animals, and I think in fungi as well. The corresponding item in plants would be chloroplasts.

Mitochondria have been around since eukaryotes evolved, probably a billion plus years ago. Not to be confused with Mt Eve.

Simulpost with Orcus.

Plants contain both mitochondria and chloroplasts

ah, well, I clearly got the wrong end of the stick on this one

Yet again hootoo contributes to my education and knowledge!

Me too.

Fascinating to see there are still many versions of various migration theories and that everyone seems willing to accept that no final and definitive map-plot-lines may ever be realised.

Measuring the survival of a bacteria that has infected women hardly seems fair and probably not reliable in the end. If one really wants to know where we come from one can only hope that the great travel agency in the sky has kept records of our ancestral travels.

Which raises the question why do we want to know? To satisfy idle curiosity at best. To start a great future Genetics war at worst. And of course we usually end up doing our worst at the best of times.

~jwf~

"we usually end up doing our worst at the best of times."

Yet conversly the worst of times tends to bring out the best in us.

Curiously, (or not if one believes in Coincidence) in the interim since our last postings here, and without conscious reference to them, I found myself buying an old copy of Tale of Two Cities for $1, sighing satisfactorily to myself, "It's about time I actually read this bad boy." I'm into about chapter five or six and as I struggle with the convoluted language I'm wondering what drugs Dickens was on in those latter days of his career and why none of what I've read so far ever made the movie versions.

~jwf~