EUROPEANS ARE GRANDCHILDREN Of NEANDERTHALS.

EUROPEANS ARE GRANDCHILDREN Of NEANDERTHALS.

An international team of scientists, led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, has made a study published today in the journal Nature that the proposed changes to the encounter between two species, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens stage, especially the idea that has had both types of humans never met in Europe

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The jaw 'Oase 1', found in 2002 in the Romanian Pestera cu Oase cave. / Svante Pääbo, Max Planck INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY (NATURE)

For analysis researchers used 35 mg of powder jawbone. / MPI F. EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY / Paabo (NATURE)

About 40,000 years ago the glaciers began to retreat toward the poles, joined and separated continents, species died out and came new. It was then that the Neanderthal gave way to modern humans. Only between 1% and 3% Neanderthal DNA lives on in those who descend from losHomo sapiens left Africa and, in a timely manner, makes between 50,000 and 60,000 years found related and mated with them somewhere East. Or so he told the science so far. Back in 2002 was found a prehistoric human jawbone in a cave in Oase, Romania. Age, between 37,000 and 42,000 years old according to radiocarbon dating, make it one of the oldest evidence of the presence of our species in Europe. The first European Homo sapiens known. DNA analysis of chin that pioneer revealed that between 6% and 9% of its genome Neanderthal (more than any other human who has been sequenced), as large segments of their chromosomes, which only He detailing whether he had had a Neanderthal ancestor at most four or six generations, according to the Max Planck Institute.

"Until now it was known that there had been a hybridization event near the exit of Africa about 60,000 years ago, because its footprint is found in all non-African modern humans, from Melanesia (one of the traditional divisions of Oceania) to Asia Europe and America, "says Carles Lalueza-Fox, an expert of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology CSIC. "I Do not quite understand why later, in Europe 45,000 years ago, had not returned to hybridize (European genomes do not show this increased footprint). Some people suggested that perhaps had not come to meet, because new radiocarbon techniques pushed back some Neanderthal sites, "he says. "The discovery provides evidence that Oase yes hybridized back 40,000 to 45,000 years ago. The explanation for why it was not detected in current European is simple: these Upper Paleolithic Europeans are not those found in Europe later "adds Lalueza-Fox, who was not involved in this study.

DNA analysis of that pioneer chin revealed that between 6% and 9% of the Neanderthal genome, more than any other human who has been sequenced

David Reich, a scientist at Harvard University (USA), who has been in charge of coordinating the population genetic analysis of the study, notes that "curiously, the individual Oase shows no sign of having any direct descendant from the current European . He may be part of an early migration of modern humans in Europe he had a close interaction with the Neanderthals but eventually died. " Indeed, the analyzes in this field show that Oase 1 is known as the original owner of the jaw, is more akin to the Siberian natives and Americans with current European.

"What we know of its genome is that very few, which were small and inbred groups and their genes showing signs of this long-term inbreeding, and in some cases, very recent signs of inbreeding. It is what happens when species or populations are the way out ". So Carles Lalueza-Fox summarizes the importance of new knowledge that brings genetics to understanding how these fascinating creatures disappeared.

References Nature Journal

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