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Are You a Descendant of Witches?
Dr. Shelli Carter
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When Diana First Visits Matthew’s Lab
Chapter 13: Diana learns of Matthew’s research interests “Mitochondrial DNA can help us to understand the history of a whole species” - Matthew Clairmont
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First, what are Mitochondria?
This work has been released into the public domain by its author, LadyofHats. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: LadyofHats grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
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In mammals, mitochondria are inherited maternally
Biology. Provided by: Khan Academy. Located at License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. License Terms:
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Paternal mitochondria
Sato, M., Sato, K. (2013). “Maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA by diverse mechanisms to eliminate paternal mitochondrial DNA”. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Cell Research. Vol. 1833, issue 8, August 2013, pp
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Diana First Visits Matthew’s Lab
Chapter 13: Diana sees her first mtDNA sequence “But what are the colored graphs?”-Diana Bishop “They’re also genetic test results…. They tell us the story of her matrilineage.”-Matthew
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Brightly Colored Hoops
“Structure of the human mitochondrial genome” derivative work: Shanel (talk) Mitochondrial DNA de.svg: translation by Knopfkind; layout by jhc (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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What is mtDNA? Resilient Circular DNA Inside another organelle
Multiple copies Some cells have 100s of mitochondrial genomes
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Witches hide their DNA Chapter 26: Matthew reveals Diana’s rooms at Oxford were broken into, likely looking for DNA samples “My mother insisted that I clean my hairbrush before leaving for school each morning.” - Diana
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Finding mtDNA Most cells Not found in RBCs or platelets
Degraded and old remains More protected Hair nuclear DNA can only be obtained from hair follicles
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How mtDNA can be used “Larger” relationships
6 main mitochondrial genomes in all eukaryotes Female lineages Forensics First case: WTC remains
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Female Lineages "Mitochondrial DNA vs. nuclear DNA," by University of California Museum of Paleontology (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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Clans Chapter 36: The Bishop lineage is a previously unknown clan
“Through a witch’s mitochondrial DNA, we can trace descent back to one of four women who were the female ancestors of every witch we’ve studied”. –Matthew “Except you. You and Sarah aren’t descended from any of them.”-Marcus Whitmore
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Human Regional Variation
Rishishwar L, Jordan IK. Implications of human evolution and admixture for mitochondrial replacement therapy. BMC Genomics. 2017;18:140. doi: /s
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Human Lineages
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Clan Mothers Sykes, B. (2001). The Seven Daughters of Eve. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. New York, NY.
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Old clans Chapter 36: The Bishop clan is old
“Clan Heh is old—no matter which mitochondrial-clock theory you adhere to”. – Miriam Shephard
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Molecular Clocks Mutation rates Coding vs. non-coding DNA
Highly variable regions
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Mutation Rates and Dating Lineages
Soares, P; Ermini, L; Thomson, N; Mormina, M; Rito, T; Röhl, A; Salas, A; Oppenheimer, S; Macaulay, V; Richards, MB (June 2009), "Correcting for purifying selection: an improved human mitochondrial molecular clock", American Journal of Human Genetics, 84 (6): 740–59, PMC ,PMID , doi: /j.ajhg
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Disappearing clans Chapter 36: Clan Heh is on the edge of extinction
“In either case it’s possible that without Diana’s issue Clan Heh will die out in this generation.”-Miriam
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First a little math… “What’s Your Number? Don’t Be Too Shocked if I’s Below 30%!” Retrieved from:
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Disappearing Lineages
“MtDNA-MRCA-generations-Evolution.svg” by C. Rottensteiner (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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The Twins…and Hope
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