Neanderthal genome shines light on human evolution

[Lulletje Rozewater]

May 7, 2010 -- Updated 2046 GMT (0446 HKT) http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/TECH/science/05/07/neanderthal.human.genome/t1larg.neanderthal.skull.jpg
Replicas of the bones from which Neanderthal DNA was extracted are shown with a Neanderthal skull.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS


Scientists draft genome sequence of humans' closest extinct biological relative
Researcher: "We can now identify genetic features that set us apart"
Findings: Modern humans bred with Neanderthals in Middle East before spreading into Eurasia
Scientists have estimated specimens to be 38,000 years old






(CNN) -- An international team of scientists that spent more than a decade studying remains of Neanderthals has drafted the first genome sequence of humans' closest extinct biological relative.
Scientists involved in the project say the findings, to be released Friday in the journal Science, yield important insights into the evolution of modern humans.
"Having a first version of the Neanderthal genome fulfills a longstanding dream," said lead researcher Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
"For the first time we can now identify genetic features that set us apart from all other organisms, including our closest evolutionary relative," Paabo said.
The findings are based on bone samples of three female Neanderthals excavated from Croatia's Vindija Cave. Scientists have estimated the specimens to be 38,000 years old.
Scientists say they have mapped 60 percent of the genome. They will continue working toward a complete sequence, a project expected to take years.
Scientists compared the Neanderthal genome with the genomes of five present-day humans from different parts of the world: France, China, Papua New Guinea and southern and western Africa.
The findings suggest that modern humans, after migrating from Africa 45,000 to 80,000 years ago, bred with Neanderthals then in the Middle East before spreading into Eurasia.
The authors estimated that 1 to 4 percent of the modern human genome of non-Africans can be traced back to the Neanderthal.
"The main finding is that there was gene flow from Neanderthals into the ancestors of modern non-Africans," David Reich, a geneticist and associate professor at the Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics, said Wednesday.
Neanderthals first appear in the European fossil record about 400,000 years ago. Roughly 30,000 years ago, the cave-dwelling hominids in Europe and Asia went extinct.
Extracting DNA from the ancient bone samples was a daunting feat.
"Six or seven years ago, I thought it would be impossible, at least my lifetime, to sequence the entire nuclear genome of Neanderthals," Paabo said on the call.
Using a delicate dental drill, researchers collected 500 milligrams of bone powder, roughly the size of a pill, from which to analyze and isolate DNA samples.
The bone samples contained very little preserved Neanderthal DNA. According to researchers, 95 to 97 percent of the DNA extracted was bacterial or from other organisms that had colonized the bone. The DNA fragments that were recovered were extremely small and contained chemical modifications that could have yielded false data.
Researchers also had to take special measures to extract the Neanderthal DNA without contaminating it with human DNA.
They employed new computer technologies to map the 4 billion-nucleotide Neanderthal genome.
"With this paper, we are just scratching the surface," said Richard Green, assistant professor of biomolecular engineering in the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the lead author of the paper describing the new research.
"The Neanderthal genome is a gold mine of information about recent human evolution, and it will be put to use for years to come," he said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/05/07/neanderthal.human.genome/index.html


Well there you have it
Your ancestors

http://antonbarnard.praag.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/neandertal.jpg (http://antonbarnard.praag.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/neandertal.jpg)

and the Übermensch
http://antonbarnard.praag.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/mugaap.jpg (http://antonbarnard.praag.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/mugaap.jpg)Homo Sapiens Africanus, the real homo sapiens sapiens


Some scientists are arseholes and some totally bonkers:D

http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15436

[Agrippa]

Compare with this thread and comments:
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15436

[Lulletje Rozewater]

Compare with this thread and comments:
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15436

I showed the thread in my post and it is quite the same

[Svanhild]

So there's the possibility that the ginger genes, responsible for red hairs in European people, are actually really relicts of the Neanderthals?

[Jarl]

So there's the possibility that the ginger genes, responsible for red hairs in European people, are actually really relicts of the Neanderthals?

Not necessarily. There are at least 3 or 4 red-hair mutations that occured at different times in different populations, afaik.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

So there's the possibility that the ginger genes, responsible for red hairs in European people, are actually really relicts of the Neanderthals?

Genetically, Africans have more variety than other races. Every time a group advanced out of Africa, or from one isolated area to another even more isolated, another batch of genetic variations was left behind. But on the surface, it's caucasians that have the most variety, for the simple reason that they have a lot less melanin, which takes the darkness out of their skin, hair, and eyes to reveal other possibilities.

Hair color is determined by 4 to 6 genes, each with several alleles, some with incomplete dominance (i.e. not a matter of one thing or the other, but perhaps a mix of both - like pink carnations). The basic genes involved are for black hair (with a recessive allele for not-black), one for brown hair (with a recessive for blond), and one for red hair (with a dominant allele for not-red). Some of these genes are close to eye color genes on chromosomes 15 and 19, and tend to go along with those genes, which is why we tend to see certain combinations of hair and eye color more frequently than others.

Black is the most common hair color in the world, and is due to a large amount of eumelanin. Brown is also common, and is due to eumelanin mixed with a bit of pheomelanin. Blond is only found in about 2% of the world's population. It is due to very small amounts of melanin. Slight amounts of black, brown, and red make for all the variations we see in blonds - such as ash, flaxen, and strawberry blond. And red hair is the rarest of all, about 1% of the world. It is due to high levels of pheomelanin plus low levels of eumelanin.

If you are curious, gray hair is due to nothing but a little black melanin, and white hair is a matter of no melanin at all.

The Koi San are in my opinion the original people moving into Europe 50 to 70.000 years ago
The puber Koi has also orange nipples,which disappears after the first sexcapedes :D

The idiotic scientists,who make these people look like Kaffirs/Bantu are totally off their rocker.
I spend 3 months in the Kalahari and when I saw an orange nipple I thought she was a sucker for punishment.:D

[Troll's Puzzle]

So there's the possibility that the ginger genes, responsible for red hairs in European people, are actually really relicts of the Neanderthals?

The gene for which supposedly gave red hair in Neanderthals is a different sequence to the one in modern humans, so no.

(red hair also exists in africa, etc. so there's no need for it to have come from breeding with Neanderthals... or Orangutans)