Abstract for presentation at 11th International Congress of Human Genetics

Though strictly speaking, mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome are two single genetic loci, their uniparental inheritance and lack of recombination have made them outstanding instruments to study ancient human dispersals. Most importantly - reconstruction of corresponding phylogenetic trees, combined with phylogeographic analysis and coalescence age calculations, applied with ever increasing phylogenetic depth, allow to draw conclusions, relevant to the reconstruction of the time scale of key events of the demographic history of our species. Analysis of the nested cladistic structure of the topology of the two phylogenetic trees has been recently used to argue that the pioneer settlement of Eurasia, extending to Melanesia and Australia, took place alongside the southern fringe of the continent, probably starting from East Africa some 60000 - 70000 years before present. Phylogeography of autochthonous basal mtDNA lineages stemming out from the major trunks of the out-of-Africa part of the mtDNA tree - macro-haplogroups M, N and R - are particularly informative and will be discussed in Eurasian, Melanesian and Australian contexts. Aspects of the branching pattern and phylogeography of NRY haplogroups, in particular K-M9, will be discussed to illustrate long-distance Palaeolithic dispersals of paternal lineages outside Africa.