Log in

View Full Version : North African Populations Carry the Signature of Admixture with Neandertals



TIGERZZZ
01-02-2015, 03:01 AM
I knew it was true.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0047765

One of the main findings derived from the analysis of the Neandertal genome was the evidence for admixture between Neandertals and non-African modern humans. An alternative scenario is that the ancestral population of non-Africans was closer to Neandertals than to Africans because of ancient population substructure. Thus, the study of North African populations is crucial for testing both hypotheses. We analyzed a total of 780,000 SNPs in 125 individuals representing seven different North African locations and searched for their ancestral/derived state in comparison to different human populations and Neandertals. We found that North African populations have a significant excess of derived alleles shared with Neandertals, when compared to sub-Saharan Africans. This excess is similar to that found in non-African humans, a fact that can be interpreted as a sign of Neandertal admixture. Furthermore, the Neandertal's genetic signal is higher in populations with a local, pre-Neolithic North African ancestry. Therefore, the detected ancient admixture is not due to recent Near Eastern or European migrations. Sub-Saharan populations are the only ones not affected by the admixture event with Neandertals.

Read more, press the link.

Longbowman
01-02-2015, 03:02 AM
Right, but the admixture level they're describing is <4%, same as other Western non-SSA people. The point of this paper was to determine if Neanderthal admixture could be found in North Africans as opposed to just Europeans and ME people considering SSA people have very little. You're misreading old news.