Posted on 07/18/2011 7:16:57 AM PDT by decimon
Some of the human X chromosome originates from Neanderthals and is found exclusively in people outside Africa, according to an international team of researchers led by Damian Labuda of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. The research was published in the July issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution.
"This confirms recent findings suggesting that the two populations interbred," says Dr. Labuda. His team places the timing of such intimate contacts and/or family ties early on, probably at the crossroads of the Middle East.
Neanderthals, whose ancestors left Africa about 400,000 to 800,000 years ago, evolved in what is now mainly France, Spain, Germany and Russia, and are thought to have lived until about 30,000 years ago. Meanwhile, early modern humans left Africa about 80,000 to 50,000 years ago. The question on everyone's mind has always been whether the physically stronger Neanderthals, who possessed the gene for language and may have played the flute, were a separate species or could have interbred with modern humans. The answer is yes, the two lived in close association.
"In addition, because our methods were totally independent of Neanderthal material, we can also conclude that previous results were not influenced by contaminating artifacts," adds Dr. Labuda.
Dr. Labuda and his team almost a decade ago had identified a piece of DNA (called a haplotype) in the human X chromosome that seemed different and whose origins they questioned. When the Neanderthal genome was sequenced in 2010, they quickly compared 6000 chromosomes from all parts of the world to the Neanderthal haplotype. The Neanderthal sequence was present in peoples across all continents, except for sub-Saharan Africa, and including Australia.
"There is little doubt that this haplotype is present because of mating with our ancestors and Neanderthals. This is a very nice result, and further analysis may help determine more details," says Dr. Nick Patterson, of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, a major researcher in human ancestry who was not involved in this study.
"Dr. Labuda and his colleagues were the first to identify a genetic variation in non-Africans that was likely to have come from an archaic population. This was done entirely without the Neanderthal genome sequence, but in light of the Neanderthal sequence, it is now clear that they were absolutely right!" adds Dr. David Reich, a Harvard Medical School geneticist, one of the principal researchers in the Neanderthal genome project.
So, speculates Dr. Labuda, did these exchanges contribute to our success across the world? "Variability is very important for long-term survival of a species," says Dr. Labuda. "Every addition to the genome can be enriching." An interesting match, indeed.
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About the study:
"An X-linked haplotype of the Neandertal origin is present among all non-African populations" was published in the July 2011 issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution. The authors are Vania Yotova, Jean-Francois Lefebvre, Claudia Moreau, Elias Gbeha, Kristine Hovhannesyan, Stephane Bourgeois, Sandra Be´darida, Luisa Azevedo, Antonio Amorim, Tamara Sarkisian, Patrice Hodonou Avogbe, Nicodeme Chabi, Mamoudou Hama Dicko, Emile Sabiba Kou' Santa Amouzou, Ambaliou Sanni, June Roberts-Thomson, Barry Boettcher, Rodney J. Scott, and Damian Labuda.
The study was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Fluted helix ping.
"That is so condescending."
We've been here before. Didn't turn out well.
The researchers need to watch their backs, once the non-politically-correct implications of this are thought about.
"The usual bet, Mortimer?"
The absence of Y-linked genetic material implies that descent is entirely through mating of Cro-Magnon males with Neandertal females. This would be consistent with Cro-Mags killing off the Neandertal males and taking the females.
neanderthal ping
Some have a bigger percentage than others...
The inverse hypothesis ("there is no significant genetic difference and therefore all performance differences must be due to racism, which must be remedied") isn't turning out so well either. The truth appears to be somewhere in between.
Significant to whom?
And [God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Acts 17:26
So, would you not take the blood of an African descendant if you needed surgery?
Brings to mind an Archie Bunker show where he found out that the blood he received for surgery came from a Black person.
Also brings to mind the complete title for Darwin's tome.
lol...this will get non whites the world over going “see I told ya”
the PC Gestapo will be out
even here on Free Republic
just watch
folks here who keep up have sent me this sort of data being discovered for several years now
there are many here who think where you come from matters none...that all is conditioning
I bet no one who has more than 1 child thinks that
I have three children, all raised in the same household, all different in their abilities and interests.
How do you get there from here?
Anyway, truth should be followed whereever it goes. Not saying this is the truth, i.e, what really happened, but I see nothing racist in it.
I predict this thread will be pulled by end of day.
Ug ug ork gronk pbbbt.
Akeeta.
Now I know that I came by my knuckle-dragging tendencies honestly!
Laying the groundwork for non-Africans to be classified as “Sub Human”
We’ve been down this road before and it didn’t work out so well!
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