Mitochondrial mutations may drive Y chromosome evolution

The human Y chromosome contains very low levels of nucleotide variation. It has been variously hypothesized that this invariance reflects historic reductions in the human male population, a very recent common ancestry, a slow rate of molecular evolution, an inability to evolve adaptively, or frequent selective sweeps acting on genes borne on the Y chromosome. We propose an alternative theory in which human Y chromosome evolution is driven by mutations in the maternally inherited mitochondrial genome, which impair male fertility and ultimately lead to a reduction in the effective population size (N-e) and consequently the variability of the Y chromosome. BioEssays 24:275-279,2002. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.;