Lineage (evolution)
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Lineage (obsolete: bloodline) in biology refers to the direct series in which ancestors and their descendants are related to each other by blood; a distinction is made between the female and the male line of descent (maternal, paternal). The lines can be considered in ascending order: the ancestry (ascendancy) - or in descending order: the descendancy (descendancy).
Family history research (genealogy) sometimes uses the term in the sense of stem line (male line), ethnosociology sometimes in connection with rules of descent.
See also: Cultural differences from biological ancestry
In genetics, the female lineage can be determined via the DNA of the mitochondria, the male lineage via the Y chromosome. In both cases, these are sections of DNA that are passed on from generation to generation without change: in female individuals from mother to daughters, in males from father to sons.
By analysing lineages, archaeological heredity (archaeogenetics) can reconstruct the genetic evolutionary history of a biological species; models related to humans include the Eve of the mitochondria, the Adam of the Y chromosome or the Aaron of the Y chromosome.
See also: The seven daughters of Eve
The female and the male lineage are of equal importance medically with regard to hereditary diseases, for example in human genetic counselling. This is why modern genealogical research strives for comprehensive ancestral lists that include all lineages - instead of pedigrees that focus only on the male side of the ancestry.
