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By: Priscilla Wiredu
In 2020, an African news article stated that Lupita Nyong’o, a Kenyan actress, starred in the 2012 PBS television special Finding Your Roots. This documentary is about testing participants and their ancestral lineage and DNA for cultural reasons. An episode on November 17 revealed the test results of Nyong’o and proved that she carried DNA from the oldest maternal haplogroup, the Mitochondrial Eve.
This revelation was groundbreaking. It proved what scientists were investigating for decades when it came to tracing back humankind as far into the past as it could go. Nyong’o’s DNA came from a close direct descendant, a woman found in Africa.
This is the discovery of the Eve gene.
What is the Eve Gene?
The Eve gene, simply put, is a gene that was responsible for the evolution of humankind. The Mitochondrial Eve, known as The Mother of Humanity, is a female biological ancestor of all humans.
For a deeper explanation, there are two different kinds of DNA in human cells. One is nuclear and the other is mitochondrial. Nuclear DNA is DNA that is inherited from both parents, in which its protein codes trigger certain functions that make up a person’s genetic composition.
Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother. Mitochondria produces energy for the cell in order for it to function. Mitochondrial DNA descends from every female and her mother, eventually tracing it back to the single source. This is what the Eve gene is, the final origin of the human DNA’s first extrapolation.
The Eve Gene Origins
In 1987, Biologist Allan Wilson was the first to coin the term Eve gene in a science journal. Wilson theorized that she lived in East Africa two million years ago. This Stone Age era involved humans living in small groups, hunting for food, fending off predators, and acquiring all equal needs and resources, through tactics for survival.
For the past 120,000 years humans have made a substantial evolutionary change. It is conceptualized that the Mitochondrial Eve had enough daughters to carry on her mitochondrial DNA to continue evolution.
120,000 years ago, humans had more opportunities to adapt to different locations once they began migrating outside of Africa. Common ancestors who had fled Africa had the ability to reproduce more rapidly across the world.
Given the history of the Mitochondrial Eve, it continues to prove that Africa is the most genetically diverse continent in the world. Africa houses various ethnicities, traditions, and cultures compared to other continents, creating unique subsets of diversity.
Discrepancies
The theory of the Eve gene has undergone debates throughout the years, with some facets of the concept being debunked or clarified in terms of what the Eve gene is or how it works.
For instance, the Mitochondrial Eve is the common matrilineal ancestor and not one of the most recent common ancestors of humans. The Eve gene is only present through female lineages, so she lived much longer ago than our most recent common ancestor. For instance, if she lived around 140,000 years ago, the common ancestor may have lived as recently as 3000 years ago.
The Eve gene was named after the Biblical Eve of the Genesis creation, which caused some confusion amongst people. The Mitochondrial Eve, contrary to popular belief, was not the only human female during her time.
Her DNA was the most prominent, but if she were the only female alive, the human race would not have evolved as much as it did. Many other females during Eve’s era have had descendants whose lineage is still ongoing today. What makes Eve different is that her line was purely matrilineal, while the others have had at least one male in every generation.
The Authors Thoughts
The Eve gene was a fascinating and confusing topic to research. Whether something like this is possible is something I have thought about, but in the end, it does make logical sense.
It is a fact that all life began in Africa, so of course, if there was any common ancestor, no matter how far back, it would be someone from Africa. What I find troublesome is the mystification of the Eve gene; how people hold Mitochondrial Eve to the status of a goddess and as a pinnacle of Black women empowerment.
They claim that the African Eve’s DNA mutation helped shape humans to what they are today. To me, it seems to reinforce the malleability of the Black uterus.
The Eve gene would make sense if one were to look at history. During slavery, enslaved Black females were being forced to conceive as many babies as they could handle, and underwent unethical gynecological practices for research. Of course, the case of Henrietta Lacks also shows how our DNA is seen as tools for advancement in health, science, economy, and many other societal benefits for White people.
While the DNA of Black women is very diverse and plentiful, the research behind it has caused us objectification, pain, and fetishization. It reveals that the discovery of the Eve gene may have propagated the use of their reproduction instead of seeing us as the creators of humans.
Priscilla Wiredu is a writer for this year’s Black Voice project. An alumni of York University, she graduated with Honors where she studied Social Sciences. She then went on to get an Ontario Graduate certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers, and a college certificate in Legal Office Administration at Seneca College. She is currently studying for the LSAT in hopes of going to law school. Her main goal as a Black Voices writer is to ensure Black issues and Black Pride are enunciated through her works.