Quiz created: 110924

Mitochondrial Eve (Quiz 2)

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1. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA are assumed to have occurred (Select two.)
randomly 
only in males 
only in females 
at a constant rate within a large population 
more rapidly during periods of rapid climate change 
as a result of the action of solar flares 
mostly within the first forty generations or so after Eve’s death 
2. The name “Eve” was given to the common female ancestor whose mtDNA is shared by all modern humans
by the scientists who did the DNA work 
by a journalist 
in the Bible 
by religious Christians seeking to coordinate scientific and biblical views of the world 
No Answer
3. There is far more variation in the mtDNA of modern Africans than in the mtDNA of people in other parts of the world. This implies that
the offspring of Eve lived in Africa longer than anywhere else 
the offspring of Eve lived in other areas before migrating back to Africa 
mutation rates are higher in Africa for reasons still unknown 
mutation rates are higher in Africa because of the prevalence of malaria 
No Answer
4. Mitochondrial Eve was
the first woman 
the first true human 
the first Homo sapiens 
the only woman of her era to have descendants today 
the only woman of her era to have modern descendants exclusively through female links 
the only woman of her era to have only female descendants today 
the first European 
No Answer
5. The evidence of mtDNA, if modern interpretations are correct, means that the Homo erectus form known as “Peking Man”
has to have been female 
was also a descendant of Mitochondrial Eve 
was not ancestral to any living human 
must have belonged to a group that migrated from Africa to China within fewer than eight generations 
has to have been an ancestor of Mitochondrial Eve 
No Answer
6. Since mtDNA is transmitted only through women,
men do not have it 
it is not possible to establish whether “the Mitochondrial Eve” was the same woman for men as for women 
any male child is logically the point of extinction of a mitochondrial DNA descent line 
a woman with millions of descendants after a few hundred generations will have passed on her mtDNA to all of them 
No Answer
7. The Y chromosome descends down a male line the same way mtDNA descends down a female line. But this research is more difficult because
men’s blood is harder to study 
men don’t sit still 
it is easier to tell who a baby’s mother is than who the father is 
there is only one Y chromosome per cell 
No Answer

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This consummately cool, pedagogically compelling, self-correcting,
multiple-choice quiz was produced automatically from
a simple text file of questions using D.K. Jordan's
dubiously original, but publicly accessible
Think Again Quiz Maker
of April 25, 2010.