Y-chromosomal Adam

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'''Y-chromosomal Adam''' is the most recent [[male]] [[human]] who all living male humans are patrilinearly descended from.  He is the male counterpart to [[Mitochondrial Eve]].  

Because the Y [[chromosome]] in human males is only passed down through males, it is possible to trace lineage from son-to-father backwards in time. Accounting for minor [[gene]]tic [[mutation]]s over time, males can find common ancestors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McDonald |first1=Iain |title=Improved Models of Coalescence Ages of Y-DNA Haplogroups |journal=Genes |date=4 June 2021 |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=862 |doi=10.3390/genes12060862 |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8228294/ |issn=2073-4425}}</ref>

Y-chromosomal Adam was a real person, but is named after [[Adam]] from [[Book of Genesis]] in the [[Old Testament]] of the [[Bible]].  In the mythology of the [[Abrahamic]] religions, Y-chromosomal Adam would actually be [[Noah]]; in reality, scientists don't know who Y-chromosomal Adam was (and the odds are good that he wasn't the named Adam or Noah).  Unlike Adam from the Bible (and very much like Noah), Y-chromosomal Adam was not the only male on Earth; instead, all of his male contemporaries failed to produce exclusively male lineages that continue to live today.

It is also understood that Y-chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve, unlike Biblical Adam and [[Eve]], need not have lived together in the same location or period of time, and were almost certainly not mates.

==How long ago did he live?==
Calculations by the geneticist {{wpl|Spencer Wells}} have shown that this man lived around 60,000 years ago.<ref>"[https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html Documentary Redraws Humans' Family Tree]" ''National Geographic News''</ref> Other calculations put the time of Y-Adam as far back as 142,000 years ago,<ref>"[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929711001649 A Revised Root for the Human Y Chromosomal Phylogenetic Tree: The Origin of Patrilineal Diversity in Africa]" ''American Journal of Human Genetics''</ref> over twice that of Wells' date.

In 2013, a recently-deceased man was found whose Y-chromosome DNA did not match any of the others previously acquired.  This new information would now put the estimate for Y-chromosomal Adam to have been alive 340,000 years ago.<ref>"[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23240-the-father-of-all-men-is-340000-years-old.html The father of all men is 340,000 years old]" ''New Scientist''</ref> However, this value was derived from a low estimate of the mutation rate.<ref>"[http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/565 Low-Pass DNA Sequencing of 1200 Sardinians Reconstructs European Y-Chromosome Phylogeny]" ''Science''</ref><ref>"[http://genome.cshlp.org/content/24/3/535.long An unbiased resource of novel SNP markers provides a new chronology for the human Y chromosome and reveals a deep phylogenetic structure in Africa]" ''Genome Research''</ref> More recent estimates of the mutation rate, based on ancient DNA data,<ref>"[https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13810 Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia]" ''Nature''</ref> suggest that the date should be ~20% younger. Both dates indicate that "Adam" was not of the ''h. sapiens'' species but its predecessor, ''h. heidelbergensis''.

==See also==
*[[Evidence against a recent creation]]

==External links==
*[https://isogg.org/tree/index.html International Society of Genetic Genealogy Human Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree]

==References==
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[[Category:Evidence against a recent creation]]
[[Category:Genetics]]
[[Category:Anthropology]]

Categories: Evidence against a recent creation, Genetics, Anthropology