Molecular phylogeny of the hominoids

Abstract

Početci istraživanja ljudskog filogenetskog stabla su se zasnivali na subjektivnoj metodi koja je koristila morfološka obilježja za njegovu rekonstrukciju. U 20. st. genetika i molekularna biologija uvode ljudski genom kao osnovu istraživanja evolucijskih odnosa. Osnovne metode postaju DNA hibridizacija i sekvencioniranje genoma. Zahvaljujući tim metodama za našu najbližu sestrinsku grupu stavljamo čimpanze. Pažnja se posvećuje i manjim DNA sekvencama poput mitohondrijske DNA ili Y kromosoma. To nam je omogućilo ne samo bolji uvid u našu evolucijsku granu rodoslovnog stabla, već i praćenje ekspanzije ljudskih populacija kroz povijest. Korijen naše civilizacije se nalazi u Africi te se preko Europe i Azije širi u ostatak svijeta. To je potkrijepljeno i teorijom „out of Africa“ koja sugerira razvoj i ekspanziju modernih ljudi iz Afrike u ostatak svijeta. Danas se najveće polemike vode oko “karike koja nedostaje” i njenih dosad pronađenih kandidata.The beginning of scientific research of human phylogenetic tree was based upon the subjective method which applied morphologic characteristics for its reconstruction. In 20. century genetic and molecular biology introduced human genome as the base for evolution relationship research. DNA hybridization and genome sequencing became basic methods. Owing to those methods we put chimpanzee as our nearest sister group. We also put our focus on smaller DNA sequences such as mitochondrial DNA or Y chromosome. That provided not only a better insight to our evolution branch of human family tree, but also to track expansions of human populations during history. The root of our civilization lies in Africa and spreads over Europe and Asia to the rest of the world. That point of view is also supported by „out of Africa“ theory which suggested that modern humans developed in Africa and then spread to the rest of the world. Today, the biggest controversy is the “missing link” and the candidates that represent it