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01-27-2014, 06:48 PM
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/26/article-2546421-1AF7404A00000578-454_306x423.jpg
His piercing blue eyes are in striking contrast to his dark complexion and hair.
It means this 7,000-year-old caveman holds the clue to man’s genetic evolution.
His remains were discovered 5,000ft up in the mountains of north-west Spain in 2006.
Experts were astonished to find the ancient hunter-gatherer, given the name La Brana 1, had a combination of African and European genes.
Results from an analysis of DNA taken from a tooth show he had dark – possibly black – hair and skin with deep blue eyes, the online edition of the journal Nature reports.
The mixture of African and European traits implies that the racial transformation of modern humans was still in progress long after they left Africa, with changes in eye colour coming before alterations in skin tone.
Study leader Professor Carles Lalueza-Fox, of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, said: ‘The biggest surprise was to discover that this individual possessed African versions in the genes that determine the light pigmentation of the current Europeans.
'Even more surprising was to find that he possessed the genetic variations that produce blue eyes.’
La Brana 1 shows genetic similarities to Scandinavians and also shared a common ancestor with people who lived in Siberia more than 20,000 years ago.
Despite La Brana 1's dark colour, the research revealed genetic similarities with Scandinavians from Sweden and Finland.
He also shared a common ancestor with people who inhabited the Upper Palaeolithic site of Mal'ta, near Lake Baikal, Siberia, more than 20,000 years ago.
DNA from one of the Siberians, a boy, last year revealed links with native Americans.
'These data indicate that there is genetic continuity in the populations of central and western Eurasia,' said Prof Lalueza-Fox.
La Brana 1's genome hints at some of the changes that occurred in humans as a result of switching from a hunter-gatherer existence to farming.
He would have been unable to digest lactose in milk or to cope with the starchy food that became the mainstay of later Neolithic farmers.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/26/article-2546421-1AF7409600000578-66_634x421.jpg
Farming is thought to have driven changes in the human immune system as a result of exposure to bacteria and viruses from animals.
But a number of DNA variants conferring resistance to infection in modern Europeans were already present in the hunter-gatherer.
This suggests they did not arise as an adaptation to farming, but had a more ancient origin.
The mixture of African and European traits implies that long after modern humans left Africa their racial transformation was still in progress, with changes in eye colour coming before alterations in skin tone.
Writing in Nature, the scientists concluded: 'Our results indicate that the adaptive spread of light skin pigmentation alleles (genetic variants) was not complete in some European populations by the Mesolithic, and that the spread of alleles associated with light/blue eye colour may have preceded changes in skin pigmentation.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2546421/Blue-eyed-caveman-7-000-year-old-DNA-reveals-European-African-traits.html#ixzz2rd7tzBFE
His piercing blue eyes are in striking contrast to his dark complexion and hair.
It means this 7,000-year-old caveman holds the clue to man’s genetic evolution.
His remains were discovered 5,000ft up in the mountains of north-west Spain in 2006.
Experts were astonished to find the ancient hunter-gatherer, given the name La Brana 1, had a combination of African and European genes.
Results from an analysis of DNA taken from a tooth show he had dark – possibly black – hair and skin with deep blue eyes, the online edition of the journal Nature reports.
The mixture of African and European traits implies that the racial transformation of modern humans was still in progress long after they left Africa, with changes in eye colour coming before alterations in skin tone.
Study leader Professor Carles Lalueza-Fox, of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, said: ‘The biggest surprise was to discover that this individual possessed African versions in the genes that determine the light pigmentation of the current Europeans.
'Even more surprising was to find that he possessed the genetic variations that produce blue eyes.’
La Brana 1 shows genetic similarities to Scandinavians and also shared a common ancestor with people who lived in Siberia more than 20,000 years ago.
Despite La Brana 1's dark colour, the research revealed genetic similarities with Scandinavians from Sweden and Finland.
He also shared a common ancestor with people who inhabited the Upper Palaeolithic site of Mal'ta, near Lake Baikal, Siberia, more than 20,000 years ago.
DNA from one of the Siberians, a boy, last year revealed links with native Americans.
'These data indicate that there is genetic continuity in the populations of central and western Eurasia,' said Prof Lalueza-Fox.
La Brana 1's genome hints at some of the changes that occurred in humans as a result of switching from a hunter-gatherer existence to farming.
He would have been unable to digest lactose in milk or to cope with the starchy food that became the mainstay of later Neolithic farmers.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/26/article-2546421-1AF7409600000578-66_634x421.jpg
Farming is thought to have driven changes in the human immune system as a result of exposure to bacteria and viruses from animals.
But a number of DNA variants conferring resistance to infection in modern Europeans were already present in the hunter-gatherer.
This suggests they did not arise as an adaptation to farming, but had a more ancient origin.
The mixture of African and European traits implies that long after modern humans left Africa their racial transformation was still in progress, with changes in eye colour coming before alterations in skin tone.
Writing in Nature, the scientists concluded: 'Our results indicate that the adaptive spread of light skin pigmentation alleles (genetic variants) was not complete in some European populations by the Mesolithic, and that the spread of alleles associated with light/blue eye colour may have preceded changes in skin pigmentation.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2546421/Blue-eyed-caveman-7-000-year-old-DNA-reveals-European-African-traits.html#ixzz2rd7tzBFE