Are you part Neanderthal?

Australian Broadcasting Corporation ^ | Wednesday, 23 August 2006 | Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

[SunkenCiv]

People of European descent may be 5% Neanderthal, according to a DNA study that counters the view that modern humans left Africa and replaced all other existing hominids. The same study, published in the latest issue of the journal PloS Genetics, also says West Africans could be related to an archaic human population... "Instead of a population that left Africa 100,000 years ago and replaced all other archaic human groups, we propose that this population interacted with another population that had been in Europe for much longer, maybe 400,000 years," says Vincent Plagnol... Using statistics and computer modelling, the researchers focused on linkage 'disequilibriums', or sections within genes that did not make sense if only modern human matings are considered... The scientists are not certain which early human group could have contributed to West African DNA, but both Europeans and Africans in the study showed about the same 5% archaic contribution. Neanderthals are believed to have originated in Africa around 400,000 years ago, but they left and then settled in Europe, hence the apparent lack of interaction with modern humans in Africa. Alan Templeton, professor of Evolutionary and Population Programs at the University of Michigan, has also conducted DNA studies and comes to similar conclusions... New technologies are being developed to sequence nuclear DNA from fossils, so in the near future, scientists may learn more about how modern human genes compare with those of archaic humans, like Neanderthals.

[SunkenCiv]

title was "Are you part-Neanderthal?" but I took out the unnecessary hyphen.

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There may be remnants of Neanderthal genes in the nuclear DNA of people with European ancestors (Image: iStockphoto)

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[SunkenCiv]

a tall glass of the usual, please:

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve

Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]

[SunkenCiv]

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[PzLdr]

Most of the women I know say I'm ALL Neanderthal!

[Dallas59]

Uhg tomak lu tawana!

[Viking2002]

I'm a Viking, baby. You bet yo' ass I got some Neanderthal in me. LOL

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks, it's great to hear the Old Tongue spoken again. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

Viking, eh? So, what exactly happened on that boat? ;')

[SunkenCiv]

:'D

[Viking2002]

I'm constrained by Free Republic posting guidelines to divulge or disseminate that sort of information here. LOL -)

[martin_fierro]

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[Dallas59]

Tawana...

[martin_fierro]

I'll have the roast duck with mango salsa.

[phantomworker]

That is so funny. I know an intellectual Neanderthal. LOL!

[Bernard Marx]

Vall, dey vent Viking bot de vould-be rapers become de rapEEs. I am not your vadder bot your mudder, said he. Your fadder's a Neandertal from Normandie.

[GSlob]

Yes. And not in a small part, either.

[coconutt2000]

Yes, I'm Neanderthal-American and I demand that my tribal rights to Europe be honored. All you puny homosapiens better leave my tribal stomping grounds and return the bones of my deceased ancestors.

[Salamander]

Since I think the'Red Sonja' method of choosing an ideal mate makes perfect sense, I'd say "probably, yes".....:)

[rmlew]

The question then is is it a sign of common lineage or a trait that developed seperately, probably as an adaptation to cold weather.
Homo Sapien remains are found in North Africa and the Middle East earlier than in Europe. Hence I find teh prospect of a European evolution from Homo Sapien Neanderthalis to Homo Sapien Sapien unlikely. We are a seperate evolutions from Homo heidelbergensis.

I would note that until recently, people thought that the pattern was H. Habilis --> H. Ergaster --> H. Erectus --> H. Neanderthal --> H. Sapien.
Now we have two branches from H. Ergaster. One is Homo Erectus. The other is Homo heidelbergensis from which we and Neanderthals arose.

Call me a pessimist, but given the history of better armed Homo Sapiens killing off less advanced modern humans, I beleived that our ancestors killed off most Neanderthals, leaving the rest to die out.

Ron
PS. If you want a real headache, imagine if H. Neanderthalis and H. Sapien were seperate species but capable of producing some fertile hybrids. With Neanderthals all but wiped out a few interbred with modern humans. (This is not unheard of. Lions and Tigers can produce viable offspring, some of which can succesfully reproduce. For a less exotic and freaky example, look at canines. Are Wolves and Coyotes really different species? The Red Wolf from a genetic and geographical level seems to be the result of hybridization from male Gray Wolves and female Coyotes. Any of these can also mate with certain breeds of domestic dog.)

[Sam Cree]

Well, almost everyone, even brunettes, has red lights in their hair, fwiw.