Neanderthal genome reveals interbreeding with humans

[Le Type Français]

38,000 and 44,000-year-old bones recovered in Croatia

I don't buy it. Adam's bones are only 6,000 years old. I can testify to that because I have the remnants of his penis in a display case.

[rdf]

I thought Lilith had them.

Originally Posted by Le Type Français

I don't buy it. Adam's bones are only 6,000 years old. I can testify to that because I have the remnants of his penis in a display case.

[NorthQuad]

Originally Posted by Buck_Nastier

Just kidding, NQ.

I probably would just to say that I've tried it.

[SCIfor55yrs.]

Originally Posted by Buck_Nastier

Disgusting. Neanderthal puss must've been horrible, like a ham sammich with
hair on it or something.

You got all that from reading the report? My ability to read between the lines must really suck. lol

[Wise Young]

The New York Times has an extensive article yesterday on a study reporting about 100 known neanderthal genes in homo sapien. The article is entitled: "Signs of Neanderthals Mating With Humans" discussing a study published in Science magazine this week by Paabo, et al. from the Max-Planck Institute in Leipzig.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/sc...derthal&st=cse

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.
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The New York Times

Max-Planck-Institute EVA
The Neanderthal DNA that Svante Pääbo analyzed came from these three bones.
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.

Neanderthals and homo sapiens apparently overlapped for some 44,000 years in Europe. This seems to be a long time, i.e. over 7 times longer than the biblical prediction of the human duration on earth, for homo sapiens to be co-existing with another humanoid species without interbreeding. But, as this article pointed out, whatever interbreeding that did occurred, it did not seem to have been prevalent amongst Europeans but rather appeared to be in the Middle East. The article also focused on another criticism of the Paabo study, that the three neanderthal bones from which most of the neanderthal genes were identified was heavily contaminated with homo sapien genes.

Wise.

[rfbdorf]

So it's the Africans who are the pure-breds. Somebody better tell the Ku Kluckheaded Klowns and the Aryan Bubbahood about this.

[crypticgimp]

i knew it. we always joked that our friend dave looked like a neanderthal. and now, here is the proof!!

[Hellonwheels]

I never doubted it. If humans will do it with livestock, a little thing like a pronounced brow ridge ain't gonna stop 'em.