Neanderthal DNA lives on ... in some of us

Source: MSNBC

The first rough draft of the Neanderthals' genome suggests that they interbred with our own species - but only enough to leave a tiny mark on the genetic code of humans from outside Africa.

"The Neanderthals are not totally extinct," said Svante Pääbo, a geneticist at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "In some of us they live on, a little bit."

Pääbo is the leader of an international team of researchers who worked for four years to extract the genetic code from half a gram of ground-up Neanderthal bone, taken from three separate specimens. The resulting draft sequence, which represents about 60 percent of the entire genome, is unveiled in this week's issue of the journal Science.

The results shed light on the evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens, as well as on the genetic heritage of now-extinct Homo neanderthalensis. When researchers compared the detailed Neanderthal code with that of five modern-day humans from different areas of the world, they found overwhelming similarities. But they also found some scientifically significant differences.

Read more at:http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/05/06/2295639.aspx

:D

I remember reading that the Neanderthals were not actually unintelligent. They just sucked at problem solving and could not evolve new ways of doing things, and died out because of it.

Which sort of makes them...Republicans.

Ba Da Ching!!!! (Cue rim shot sound effect.)

Had to be done. :-)

but I thought that the Neanderthals would have contributed more than the researchers discovered.

Maybe only a few were left when we made the scene in Europe.

occurred at about the same time, so it might be that the former occurred slightly before the latter. Of course, with the all-too-human tendency to attribute causality to events, one can't help but notice that the reverse of this idea -- that homo sapiens arrived and then Neanderthals quickly died out -- seems very suggestive.

and, although the main migration was likely about 50,000 years ago, the human race had itchy feet far longer than that and there were smaller waves of hunting bands and whole tribes migrating out before and after the climate change 50,000 years ago that had them looking for better real estate.

Likely the lack of genetic changes interspecies was because of a poor birth rate or infancy survival rate. The two species were compatible, but just.

I'm actually delighted we didn't just kill them off, that we carry some of their characteristics. Given what we know about them, it just might be some of the best parts of us.

:thumbsup:

when Homo sapiens was en route to Europe.

when they found a camel. :)

BBC link to subject here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8660940.stm

Our genes are partly responsible for our susceptibility to disease. Perhaps those with stronger Neanderthal components didn't make it through the waves of plagues we've suffered since.

It's not a complete Neanderthal sequence - perhaps those components missing will fill in the surprising gaps.

I've never bought the 'no-interbreeding' hypothesis. It just didn't fit Occam's model. That there's so little of the DNA in modern humans doesn't surprise me either. A lot can happen in 40,000-100,000 years.

I really want to know now whether I'm part Neander.

I thought this was going to be a joke or cartoon about Rethugs!

who said the story was that "white people" had some Neanderthal genes. To which I replied, "No surprise - have you seen pictures of the Tea Party rallies?"