title: Mitochondrial mutations may drive Y chromosome evolution.
abstract: The human Y chromosome contains very low levels of nucleotide variation. It has been variously hypothesized that this invariance reflects historic reductions in the human male population, a very recent common ancestry, a slow rate of molecular evolution, an inability to evolve adaptively, or frequent selective sweeps acting on genes borne on the Y chromosome. We propose an alternative theory in which human Y chromosome evolution is driven by mutations in the maternally inherited mitochondrial genome, which impair male fertility and ultimately lead to a reduction in the effective population size (N(e)) and consequently the variability of the Y chromosome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. n.gemmell@zool.canterbury.ac.nz
authors.forename: Neil J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Gemmell
authors.forename: Frank Y T
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Sin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology*; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial