An article published in today's nature discusses the sequencing of the genome of an unknown hominin, which was determined to be a Neanderthal, from the Altai mountains. The authors also performed a low-coverage genome-sequencing of a Mezmaikaya Neanderthal (Caucuses) and were thus able to do some interesting reconstructions of archaic population history. This study was full of interesting findings!
Including:
-Very low genetic diversity for the Altai population, suggesting high levels of inbreeding
-Neanderthal gene flow into Eurasians most similar to the Mezmaikaya Neanderthal.
-evidence of admixture between Neanderthals and Denisovans, with greatest gene flow in genomic regions related to immunity and spermatogenesis (HLA and CRISP gene families)
-evidence of admixture between Denisovans and a as-of-yet-unidentified archaic hominin (!)
-a high resolution list of human-specific genetic changes (conserved in Neanderthals, Denisovans, and chimps) which includes a measly 96 fixed amino acid changes!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment