We're Part Neanderthal, Researchers Find

[Frodo]

Signs of Neanderthals Mating With Humans

By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: May 6, 2010

Neanderthals mated with some modern humans after all and left their imprint in the human genome, a team of biologists has reported in the first detailed analysis of the Neanderthal genetic sequence.

The biologists, led by Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have been slowly reconstructing the genome of Neanderthals, the stocky hunters that dominated Europe until 30,000 years ago, by extracting the fragments of DNA that still exist in their fossil bones. Just last year, when the biologists first announced that they had decoded the Neanderthal genome, they reported no significant evidence of interbreeding.

Scientists say they have recovered 60 percent of the genome so far and hope to complete it. By comparing that genome with those of various present day humans, the team concluded that about 1 percent to 4 percent of the genome of non-Africans today is derived from Neanderthals. But the Neanderthal DNA does not seem to have played a great role in human evolution, they said.

Experts believe that the Neanderthal genome sequence will be of extraordinary importance in understanding human evolutionary history since the two species split some 600,000 years ago.

So far, the team has identified only about 100 genes — surprisingly few — that have contributed to the evolution of modern humans since the split. The nature of the genes in humans that differ from those of Neanderthals is of particular interest because they bear on what it means to be human, or at least not Neanderthal. Some of the genes seem to be involved in cognitive function and others in bone structure.

“Seven years ago, I really thought that it would remain impossible in my lifetime to sequence the whole Neanderthal genome,” Dr. Paabo said at a news conference. But the Leipzig team’s second conclusion, that there was probably interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans before Europeans and Asians split, is being met with reserve by some archaeologists.

A degree of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals in Europe would not be greatly surprising given that the species overlapped there from 44,000 years ago when modern humans first entered Europe to 30,000 years ago when the last Neanderthals fell extinct. Archaeologists have been debating for years whether the fossil record shows evidence of individuals with mixed features.

But the new analysis, which is based solely on genetics and statistical calculations, is more difficult to match with the archaeological record. The Leipzig scientists assert that the interbreeding did not occur in Europe but in the Middle East and at a much earlier period, some 100,000 to 60,000 years ago, before the modern human populations of Europe and East Asia split. There is much less archaeological evidence for an overlap between modern humans and Neanderthals at this time and place.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It's a possibility, but to me it's just like an "oh ok" type discovery.

[J. J.]

Does this mean we are half-orcs?

[k-onmmunist]

Given some of the people on this forum, this research does not surprise me.

[memphis]

That's crazy.  Doesn't that mean then that Neandertals and Cro-Mangnum were the same species if they can mate and produce fertile offspring?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Given some of the people on this forum, this research does not surprise me.

Please, don't offend neanderthals.

[John Dibble]

That's crazy.  Doesn't that mean then that Neandertals and Cro-Mangnum were the same species if they can mate and produce fertile offspring?

They were different enough that they could be recognized as separate species, but they were similar enough that they were genetically compatible. There are actually quite a few closely-related species that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, but since such pairings aren't the norm they are considered separate.

[Torie]

The critical difference is humans have a smaller jaw bone, which allowed for a larger brain.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

So evolution is real?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Given how I remember hearing how much two to three years ago that the "Neanderthal mystery" had been solved (ie. we killed them all) I would take this with a pinch of salt for at least the next few years.

[memphis]

The critical difference is humans have a smaller jaw bone, which allowed for a larger brain.

Neaderthal brains were not smaller than ours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neaderthal

[12th Doctor]

To me, this seems like yet another "coffee good/coffee bad" scientific debate.  Last year, someone declared, definitively the there is no trace of Neanderthal genes in the modern human genome.

Look, its as simple as this... all variation in the genome of modern humans can be accounted for by small mutations in the known gene pool.  Modern Humans are 99.9999999999 percent similar with in their genetic codes.  There is no real, appreciable difference between Asians and Europeans, for instance, inside the actual genetic maps.  We can only track migrations of genetic populations through Haplogroup mutations.

If Modern Humans breed and had viable offspring with Neanderthals, where ever this occurred, there would be a clear, noticeable difference in the genetic heritage of that groups, compared to groups located in lands that humans settled previously, where Neanderthals were not present.  No such split exists.  Even granting migrations of people spreading the Neanderthal genes, potentially eliminating the obvious difference, the extend of presence of these genes from one group to another would be apparent, especially when you look at the more isolated African origin groups.  No such evidence exists.

That's the end of the story.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

All the more reason to bring them back. They should be able to integrate into society while increasing our genetic diversity.