Specific works/DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography (DVD)/DNA science error and misrepresentation

DNA and religious claims

A FAIR Analysis of: DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography (DVD); Introduction to Book of Mormon Evidences (Seminar) A work by author: The FIRM Foundation

Distortion or errors in presentation of genetic data

Mitochondrial clock puts "Eve" to 6,000 years ago

Claim: An article in the journal Science "called "Calibrating the Mitochondrial Clock" it said, '...researchers have calculated that 'mitochondrial Eve'—the woman whose mtDNA was ancestral to that of all living people—lived [100,000 to] 200,000 years ago in Africa. Using this new clock (this new calibration), she would be a mere 6,000 years old.'"

Facts: The work presented in Science served to prove that a key assumption required for "molecular clocks" was inaccurate. The authors of the Science article suggested that part of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) called the "control region" was not a good place for a DNA clock. This was conclusively demonstrated within two years by the same research team, who found that "the [control region of mtDNA] has not [changed] at a constant rate across all human lineages...and is consequently less suitable for dating..." In contrast, the areas "outside of the [control region change] in a roughly 'clock-like' manner, enabling a more accurate measurement of mutation rate, and therefore improved estimates of times to evolutionary events."^[1]

Researchers then performed a check on their X-chromosome and mtDNA clocks. They knew that nuclear DNA (where the X-chromosome is located) changes about three times slower than mtDNA, which would put the last common ancestor about three times further back in time than mtDNA calculations would.

Their X-chromosome DNA clock put the last common ancestor at 535,000 ± 119,000 years. A third of that would be about 178,000 years ± 40,000 years. Their mtDNA clock gave a last common ancestor at 171,500—once the faulty "control region" was left out. This is an impressive match, and since it comes from two separate, unrelated techniques, they confirm each other—yet more evidence that something was wrong with the mtDNA clock that used the control region.

So, within two years of the article used in the DVD presentation, the problem had been defined and a solution found. The FIRM Foundation must have been unaware of this updated information because their assumptions and conclusions are based on a misreading of the outdated data presented in the Science news summary. However, despite having this pointed out to them, they continue to rely upon flawed reasoning.