2002/06/22 Jim Cheng／North American Taiwanese Professors' Association
Who Is Taiwanese "Mitochondria Eve(s)"?

  Brian Sykes, professor of human genetics at the University 
of Oxford, UK, has narrowed down mitochondria (mt) Eves of all 
Europeans to seven, namely, Helena, Jasmine, Katrine, Tara, 
Ursula, Velda, and Xenia (a). Each had a different birthplace 
distributed from the Near East to Europe, but they probably 
all had the origin in Kenya or Ethiopia in the eastern Africa 
60,000 to 100,000 years ago. In Africa, 13 mitochondria Eves 
are recognized to have descended from the single woman, the 
very mitochondria Eve of all humans bearing the scientific 
name, Homo sapiens sapiens. She probably appeared in Africa 
as early as 150,000 years ago.

  What is the "mitochondria Eve?" To answer this question, 
we should know a little about DNA. The DNA is a long, 
two-stranded chain consisting of nucleotides, fundamental 
chemical molecules. These nucleotides are arranged and 
assembled in the specific order and, maintained the order 
consistently from generation to generation. The assembly of 
DNA molecules in toto makes up the specific genome that is 
unique only to each species. Each DNA contains both coding and 
non-coding sequences. Coding sequences represent active genes 
that ultimately produce functional gene products, the 
proteins, from which all biological functions are expressed. 
By contrast, most non-coding sequences are not involved 
directly in the functional gene expressions and activities.

  Cellular DNA is concentrated mostly in the nucleus. 
However, a small amount of DNA is also found in the 
extranuclear cytoplasm, exclusively in the mitochondria (mt), 
the powerhouse of the cell. Mitochondria of both female and 
male cells are transmitted strictly from the mother to her 
children and all descendants thereafter. Therefore, mt is 
inherited maternally. Of the 16,569 DNA base pairs (bps) that 
comprise each mitochondria genome, a stretch of about 500 bps 
is located at a specific segment called Control Region where 
the mitochondria DNA replication initiates. This is also the 
non-coding (c) and non-recombining (d) regions. Thus all 
mutations (e) will be preserved and transmitted permanently 
to her descendants. By tracing back a particular mutation, 
one can find the single matrimonial (maternal line) origin 
of that mutant. In Bible, Eve is the first woman created by 
God and is used here to represent the first woman to possess 
the particular mutant. When a group of people who shares the 
same set of mutations, they are said to have the "common 
ancestry." By comparing all sets of mutants among different 
groups of peoples, one can find the single mutant that is 
common to all groups. The first owner of this unique mutant 
represents the very mother, the Mitochondria Eve, who gave 
that particular mutant to all her descendants. Consequently, 
by tracing back a mutant for 20 generations up into the 
ancestry, for example, one can find the very woman among a 
million other contemporaries, who is entitled to be the 
mitochondria Eve. Sykes was able to trace his maternal 
ancestor back to one of the seven mitochondria Eves, Tara, 
who probably lived in northern Italy about 17,000 years ago. 
Tara was also the same Eve ancestor to the last Russian Tsar, 
Nicholas. Thus, despite separated by thousands of miles, both 
Sykes and Tsar once had the same ancestral mother.

  Sykes' research also leads to another interesting discovery 
that contradicts the prevailing "population replacement theory" 
of Europeans. This theory suggests that the Paleolithic hunter
-gatherers who first arrived at Europe 40,000 to 60,000 years 
ago were subsequently replaced "totally" by the Neolithic 
ancient farmers entered the same Europe 10,000 to 15,000 years 
ago. Instead, Sykes and his associates found that the 
mitochondria genome of the Neolithic ancestor comprises only 
20% of that of the extant Europeans with the rest 80% being 
from the Paleolithic. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, a pioneer 
in studying anthropology using biochemistry and molecular 
biology, and his associates, reached the same conclusion. They 
indicated that the non-coding and non-recombining regions of 
the male-exclusive Y chromosome contained 25% of the Neolithic 
component, whereas the remaining 75% belonged to the 
Paleolithic. Therefore, evidence from both DNA data are 
consistent in that the archaic European inhabitants have 
retained the genomic dominance over the new arrivals, although 
some archaeological evidence may suggest otherwise.

  Sykes also points out that the origin of Polynesians is 
somewhere NEAR the China coast in the Southeast Eurasia. I use 
the bold letters for the word "NEAR" to emphasize that it 
denotes apparently the territory beyond China. Likewise 
whenever we see the words "southern China." we should be 
careful for making sure it being the southern part of China or 
south of the territorial border of China. These words when 
used loosely may lead to a totally different conclusion.

  Let's look at Taiwan now. Can the Austronesian Formosans 
easily and totally be replaced by "Chinese Hans" in the last 
"400" years that the China Centralists wish to claim? In 1624, 
the Dutch first occupied and built the government on the 
island, which was initially peopled by the Austronesian 
Formosans perhaps more than 40,000 years ago. In 1662, the 
infamous, Chinese- Japanese half-bred pirate, Koxinga Cheng 
(Cheng, Cheng-Kung) and followers occupied Taiwan after they 
chased out the Dutch, and begun the history of "Chinese Hans" 
occupation of Taiwan. Since then it has been 340 years to be 
exactly, or 60 years short of the "400" years frequently 
quoted by the China centralists to exaggerate the occupation 
overly. Sixty years can be translated into a period of three 
generations. Imagine, in less than 57 years since Chiang 
Kai-shek came to Taiwan in 1945, the "Taiwanese Hans" who 
spoke "Holo/Hakka" or Japanese at the start of the period 
are now speaking Mandarin Chinese predominantly. During the 
past 340 years, languages commonly spoken on the Formosa 
island changed from the indigenous Austronesian languages 
before 1662 to the foreign Holo/Hakka by 1895, to another 
foreign Japanese by 1945, and finally to the last foreign 
China Mandarin. Along with changes in languages, cultures 
of the society also changed. Obviously, to conclude the 
genetic origin of a population merely based on languages 
and/or cultures often leads to an erroneous conclusion as 
indicated here in both Formosan and European cases. The 
analysis of mtDNA should give an unbiased answer as to who 
may be the real mitochondria Eve(s) of the Taiwanese and 
from where she came. Equally likely, the Y-chromosome 
haplotype study would provide credible data to reveal the 
true Taiwanese origin. Based on available data so far on 
the archaeology, Y-chromosome DNA haplotypes, and HLAs, 
the most likely origin of Taiwanese appear to be from the 
Southeast Asia beyond China with the close common ancestry 
to Vietnam aborigines and the distant common ancestry to 
Thailand. 

(a). Seven Daughters of Eve (W. W. Norton & Co., 2001): 
     The Scientist, 15 (24), 1, 18-20.  

(b). Non-coding means that no functional genes are expressed. 
     As a consequence, changes caused by mutations, for 
     example, are not under the direct scrutiny of the natural 
     selection. 

(c). Non-combining means a DNA segment that does not mix with 
     the homologous counterpart through crossing-over. Thus 
     the segment retains the original linkage relation. 

(d). Mutation is the change in nucleotides and bp sequences 
     with the least change involving only one nucleotide pair.