Post by merlin on Mar 19, 2018 8:28:49 GMT
Humans bred with mysterious Denisovan species
Humans bred with mysterious Denisovan species more than once, study reveals
Research examines over 5,500 genomes of modern people looking for possible archaic DNA
The investigation has found a third interbreeding event between the two primates Reuters
We rarely portray Neanderthals, our close relatives, as telegenic. Museum exhibits give them wild tangles of hair and Hollywood reduces them to grunting unsophisticates. Their skulls suggest broad faces, tiny chins and jutting brows. But to mock Neanderthals is to mock ourselves: Homo sapiens had lots of sex with Homo neanderthalensis. Neanderthal genes supply between 1 per cent and 4 per cent of the genome in people from homelands on several continents, from Britain to Japan to Colombia.
DNA from another humanlike primate, the Denisovans, lurks in modern genomes, too. A molar and a chip of pinkie bone found in a Siberian cave provide what little information we have about this species. DNA extracted from the fragments previously revealed cross-species breeding. Yet a new study in the journal Cell shows that the ancient hanky-panky did not stop in Siberia: humans who travelled across South Asia mated with a separate group of Denisovans as well.
“This is a breakthrough paper,” said David Reich, who studies ancient DNA at Harvard University and was not involved with the study. “It’s a definite third interbreeding event,” one that adds to the previously known Denisovan and Neanderthal mixtures
www.independent.co.uk/news/science/humans-bred-denisovan-species-evolution-neanderthals-homo-sapiens-dna-harvard-university-study-a8258586.html
Humans bred with mysterious Denisovan species more than once, study reveals
Research examines over 5,500 genomes of modern people looking for possible archaic DNA
The investigation has found a third interbreeding event between the two primates Reuters
We rarely portray Neanderthals, our close relatives, as telegenic. Museum exhibits give them wild tangles of hair and Hollywood reduces them to grunting unsophisticates. Their skulls suggest broad faces, tiny chins and jutting brows. But to mock Neanderthals is to mock ourselves: Homo sapiens had lots of sex with Homo neanderthalensis. Neanderthal genes supply between 1 per cent and 4 per cent of the genome in people from homelands on several continents, from Britain to Japan to Colombia.
DNA from another humanlike primate, the Denisovans, lurks in modern genomes, too. A molar and a chip of pinkie bone found in a Siberian cave provide what little information we have about this species. DNA extracted from the fragments previously revealed cross-species breeding. Yet a new study in the journal Cell shows that the ancient hanky-panky did not stop in Siberia: humans who travelled across South Asia mated with a separate group of Denisovans as well.
“This is a breakthrough paper,” said David Reich, who studies ancient DNA at Harvard University and was not involved with the study. “It’s a definite third interbreeding event,” one that adds to the previously known Denisovan and Neanderthal mixtures
www.independent.co.uk/news/science/humans-bred-denisovan-species-evolution-neanderthals-homo-sapiens-dna-harvard-university-study-a8258586.html