tas8831
Well-Known Member
Anyone ever heard of the "Eve gene"?
Me neither. Not until yesterday, when I read that a thing called the "Eve gene" is a "flag" and a "marker" that only humans have and thus humans are separate from other Primates.
I have been a professional biologist for 20 years. Prior to that, I was a graduate student, doing research on mammalian evolution for 5 years, and prior to that an undergraduate working full time for about 6 years.
I have taken classes on general biology, cell biology, genetics, anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, microbiology, etc. I have taught genetics, evolution, biological anthropology, anatomy, comparative anatomy, etc., and not once in all that time in any of those classes did I ever hear or read the phrase "Eve gene."
I read my first creationist book (I was shocked to discover there were such people) 30 years ago. I came across it in the library while I was looking for a Carl Sagan book. I have since read 15 or 20 creationist books, read hundreds of 'technical' articles written by creationists (spoiler - most claimed to be technical are not, and none actually present evidence FOR creation), thousands of online screeds, and probably 100s of thousands of discussion forum/listserv posts by creationists, and not until yesterday did I even see a creationist use the phrase "Eve gene."
Why? Because it is a ridiulous phrase that nobody with any actual relevant understanding would use.
Googling the phrase turns up, shockingly, about 47,000 returns (compare to "mitochondrial Eve" - 133,000).
Caveat - even when the phrase "Eve gene" is put in quotation marks, returns with just the two words anywhere in their search space show up, such as this return to a Discovery blog post titled:
"Y, mtDNA, Adam, & Eve - Gene Expression - Discover Magazine Blogs"
In fact, nearly all of the returns on the first 5 pages (didn't bother going beyond that) were to either actual scientific papers that merely mentioned 'Mitochondrial Eve', or to papers that were about the 'even skipped' or 'eve' gene in Drosophila (not on their mitochondrial genome).
So, I infer that actual mentions of this "Eve gene" are very very low, possibly even only to the first couple of hits on the first page.
In fact, the first return is to the 'Bradshaw Foundation", whatever that is, which indicates that "Eve gene" is just a "popular" reference to the mitochondrial DNA, not a specific gene.
Of note, returns not to mitochondrial Eve or 'even skipped' in Drosophila appeared to be are to religious sites or sites like Quora, where, disturbingly, there seems to be a cultish-understanding that "Eve gene" refers to black people:
The Eve Gene is only found in African women and essentially has all the variations possible for the entire human mitrochondrial genome. This means that when an African women posseses a mutation in this gene, mitochondrial DNA of all other skin types come about (caucasian, albino, middle eastern, etc.).
From this special gene, we can trace ourselves back to one woman, the first woman, who lived in Africa.
You really do learn something every day.
Me neither. Not until yesterday, when I read that a thing called the "Eve gene" is a "flag" and a "marker" that only humans have and thus humans are separate from other Primates.
I have been a professional biologist for 20 years. Prior to that, I was a graduate student, doing research on mammalian evolution for 5 years, and prior to that an undergraduate working full time for about 6 years.
I have taken classes on general biology, cell biology, genetics, anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, microbiology, etc. I have taught genetics, evolution, biological anthropology, anatomy, comparative anatomy, etc., and not once in all that time in any of those classes did I ever hear or read the phrase "Eve gene."
I read my first creationist book (I was shocked to discover there were such people) 30 years ago. I came across it in the library while I was looking for a Carl Sagan book. I have since read 15 or 20 creationist books, read hundreds of 'technical' articles written by creationists (spoiler - most claimed to be technical are not, and none actually present evidence FOR creation), thousands of online screeds, and probably 100s of thousands of discussion forum/listserv posts by creationists, and not until yesterday did I even see a creationist use the phrase "Eve gene."
Why? Because it is a ridiulous phrase that nobody with any actual relevant understanding would use.
Googling the phrase turns up, shockingly, about 47,000 returns (compare to "mitochondrial Eve" - 133,000).
Caveat - even when the phrase "Eve gene" is put in quotation marks, returns with just the two words anywhere in their search space show up, such as this return to a Discovery blog post titled:
"Y, mtDNA, Adam, & Eve - Gene Expression - Discover Magazine Blogs"
In fact, nearly all of the returns on the first 5 pages (didn't bother going beyond that) were to either actual scientific papers that merely mentioned 'Mitochondrial Eve', or to papers that were about the 'even skipped' or 'eve' gene in Drosophila (not on their mitochondrial genome).
So, I infer that actual mentions of this "Eve gene" are very very low, possibly even only to the first couple of hits on the first page.
In fact, the first return is to the 'Bradshaw Foundation", whatever that is, which indicates that "Eve gene" is just a "popular" reference to the mitochondrial DNA, not a specific gene.
Of note, returns not to mitochondrial Eve or 'even skipped' in Drosophila appeared to be are to religious sites or sites like Quora, where, disturbingly, there seems to be a cultish-understanding that "Eve gene" refers to black people:
The Eve Gene is only found in African women and essentially has all the variations possible for the entire human mitrochondrial genome. This means that when an African women posseses a mutation in this gene, mitochondrial DNA of all other skin types come about (caucasian, albino, middle eastern, etc.).
From this special gene, we can trace ourselves back to one woman, the first woman, who lived in Africa.
You really do learn something every day.
Last edited:
