There Is a Phenomenon Called Parental Leakage, in Which a Small

question 107

Multiple Choice

There is a phenomenon called parental leakage, in which a small amount of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the father is found in the offspring. If parental leakage is assumed to have occurred throughout human history, how does it change our interpretation of Matthias Krings and Svante Päabo's studies of mitochondrial DNA in specimens of Neanderthals and modern humans?

• A)If paternal mtDNA with Neanderthal sequences did show up in the offspring alongside maternal mtDNA, these would have immediately indicated that the two groups interbred.
• B)The results would have been exactly the same because researchers were looking at only female modern humans in this study.
• C)mtDNA coming from the father would negate all of the advantages of using mtDNA as the source for genetic information in the first place, therefore the whole study would be useless.
• D)The results would have been exactly the same because researchers were looking at only modern humans that were males for this study. This means it wouldn't have mattered if paternal leakage occurred or not.

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