Neanderthals may have interbred with humans twice DNA evidence

[Ichingcarpenter]

An examination of the DNA of 1,983 people from around the globe suggests that extinct human species such as Homo neanderthalensis or Homo heidelbergensis interbred with our own ancestors during two separate periods, and their genes remain in our DNA today. The research was carried out by a group of genetic anthropologists from the University of New Mexico, and leader of the team, Jeffrey Long, said the findings mean Neanderthals did not completely disappear, but “there is a little bit of Neanderthal left over in almost all humans.”



The subjects of the study were drawn from 99 population groups in the Americas, Oceania, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the researchers analyzed over 600 microsatellite positions on the genome, which are sections that can be used rather like fingerprints. Doctoral student Sarah Joyce then developed an evolutionary tree to explain the genetic variations found in the microsatellite positions.



The results were unexpected, but Joyce said the best explanation for the variations was that our human ancestors and the archaic species interbred during two periods after the first Homo sapiens had left Africa: the first in the Mediterranean around 60,000 years ago, and the second in eastern Asia about 45,000 years ago. The group found no evidence of the interbreeding in the DNA of modern Africans included in the study.



The findings suggest that after the first interbreeding populations migrated from the Mediterranean to North America, Europe and Asia. A second interbreeding in Asia then altered the genome of the people who went on to migrate to Oceania.


The findings were presented on 17th April at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists’ annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they created a great deal of interest among other researchers in the field, who had been attempting to explain some curious variations in the genome. One researcher, Linda Vigilant from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said the findings may help explain what she called “subtle deviations” in the genetic variations in the Pacific region.


http://www.physorg.com/news191047192.html

[YOY]

1. Quad Eram fuckin' Demonstrandum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8183646

[deutsey]

2. Perfect

:thumbsup:

[Tansy_Gold]

4. O.M.F.G. N.T.

[Occulus]

16. Nice catch n/t

[T Wolf]

3. The offspring can be seen at the Teabagger riots. nt

[ericinne]

5. Yep

Just look for the guys dragging their knuckles.

[old mark]

6. Well, it was a tossup- either we mated with them...

or we ate them...

m

[Dogtown]

7. I'd say both.

Paleo-humans were just about as moralistic and ethical as today's societies.

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. Sex before dinner?

I think both happened but not with the same tribe or time.

Interesting finding none the less considering the debate over the years on what happened to them

[Dogtown]

11. Yes. Much as we are today.

We rarely eat our enemies these days, but we still fuck them every chance we get.

Humans are a most undignified species.

[old mark]

19. Obviously, our ancestors belong with us...they seem more and more like

"modern" humans with every new discovery.
We just have better shoes....


mark

[old mark]

18. Would help explain my protruding brow ridge and large brain

(joke).

m

[Phoonzang]

9. So....this is just a theory with no conlusive proof, correct?

There are deviations in the genome of certain populations so these researchers are hypothesizing that those deviations exist because humans interbred with Neanderthals. Je suis skeptical.

[Johonny]

15. sounds like it

Still a little skeptical myself

[sybylla]

21. As with large parts of science

Rarely do we have the luxury of conclusive proof in anything scientific relating to prehistory. Gravity itself is a theory waiting for conclusive proof or refutation.

And yet, if you read the article, more evidence is on its way. A group of researchers just wrapped work on the Neanderthal genome. Once their findings are pulled together and analyzed, you just might find yourself staring at strong evidence if not conclusive proof.

[xchrom]

10. I would be very surprised if we hadn't interbred.

People like to fuck.

[sybylla]

20. No kidding

Occam's Razor in my book.

[Turbineguy]

12. Sex.

So easy, a caveman can do it.

[TankLV]

13. Well - we've known that for some time now - the teabaggers prove it every day...

[TankLV]

14. They must have been married to each other - that explains why it was only twice...

and "they" have now been telling us lately that women like "manly men" now...

so much for the "metrosexual male" or the evolved being.

[Orsino]

17. LOL n/t

[laconicsax]

22. IIRC, there's no way to actually test this hypothesis.

There are no living Neanderthals or copies of the Neanderthal genome. There's no way of even knowing if Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens could even interbreed, let alone produce viable offspring.

I also seem to recall reading that mtDNA research rules out Neanderthals in our matrilineal ancestry and that y-chromosome research rules out Neanderthals in our patrilineal ancestry.

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. The Neanderthals gnome is being examined

by two labs who got access to as good as a bone specimen has been found yet
But the purity of the DNA is in question in order to formulate a scientific conclusion.

I do think this folks that declared this will be questioned, however,
they must of based it on something solid in order to promote it in a Scientific paper
with the University behind them.



We shall see.