Mitochondrial Eve. Conceptual computer artwork of a circular molecule of mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) floating above a hand. Mitochondria are cell organelles that produce energy. They are inherited only from the mother, and therefore descend relatively unchanged through the generations. By comparing mitochondrial DNA from people all over the world, the most recent common ancestor of all humans alive today has been found and named Mitochondrial Eve. Eve lived approximately 200,000 years ago in Africa. She was not the only woman alive, but is the only woman with an unbroken line of daughters to this day.