Denisova hominins /dəˈniːsəvə/, or Denisovans, are Paleolithic-era members of a species of Homo or subspecies of Homo sapiens. In March 2010, scientists announced the discovery of a finger bone fragment of a juvenile female who lived about 41,000 years ago, found in the remote Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, a cave which has also been inhabited by Neanderthals and modern humans.[1][2][3] Two teeth and a toe bone belonging to different members of the same population have since been reported. On 4 December 2013, scientists reported that they had retrieved ancient Denisova DNA from a hominin femur fossil found in Spain dating back about 400,000 years.[4]
Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the finger bone showed it to be genetically distinct from the mtDNAs of Neanderthals and modern humans.[5] Subsequent study of the nuclear genome from this specimen suggests that this group shares a common origin with Neanderthals, that they ranged from Siberia to Southeast Asia, and that they lived among and interbred with the ancestors of some present-day modern humans, with up to 6% of the DNA of Melanesians and Australian Aborigines deriving from Denisovans.[6][7] A comparison with the genome of a Neanderthal from the same cave revealed significant local interbreeding, with local Neanderthal DNA representing 17% of the Denisovan genome, while evidence was also detected of interbreeding with an as yet unidentified ancient human lineage.[8] Similar analysis of a toe bone discovered in 2011 is underway,[9] while analysis of DNA from two teeth found in different layers than the finger bone revealed an unexpected degree of mtDNA divergence among Denisovans
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I’ve always wondered about the authorities you find truthful - NYT says it all now don’t it?!?!
:’)
[singing] Blame it on the Denisovans, the hominins...
Here is another really interesting and very long article focusing on the Denisovans and their tine and distance relationship to Neanderthals, modern humans, Chimpanzees, etc.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7327/full/nature09710.html
I hope this is the right one, it is really late and I am too tired to check. Maybe tomorrow.