Question on the concept of mitochondrial Eve My question is about the very definition of this common ancestor. Why shouldn't be the mother of mitocondrial Eve the real Eva m (and so on to grand grand ...mother)? All I know on the subject comes from Wikipedia. My question comes from the idea that mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to daughter. I do not see where to stop back in time. Please consider that here I am not asking for details or controversies. Just the significance of mitochondrial Eve.

As the Wikipedia article says:

> In human genetics, the Mitochondrial Eve (also mt-Eve, mt-MRCA) is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all currently living humans

Note the use of the words " **most recent** ". The mother and grandmother of the actual Mitochondrial Eve were living before Mitochondrial Eve, and thus are _less recent_ than she is.