Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

TikkiTakiTomtom t1_iv17pc9 wrote

Reply to comment by scottish_beekeeper in Why don't we have Neandertal mitochondrial DNA? by nodeciapalabras

Mitochondria are endosymbionts meaning at some point in time they made their home inside of us. On the timeline of neanderthals and mitochondria which one came first?

−6

scottish_beekeeper t1_iv1mgnf wrote

Mitochondria 'merged' with other archaea to give rise to eukaryotes, probably around 2-3 billion years ago.

17

byllz t1_iv1ssbz wrote

And before anyone asks, yes humans and Neandertals diverged sometime after that.

17

Powersmith t1_iv1oj2o wrote

Mitochondria became endosymbionts before there were even animals at all, let alone mammals or primates.

10