Posted on 11/08/2006 11:15:23 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
Scientists are reconstructing the genome of Neanderthals - the close relations of modern man.
The ambitious project involves isolating genetic fragments from fossils of the prehistoric beings who originally inhabited Europe to map their complete DNA.
The Neanderthal people were believed to have died out about 35,000 years ago - at a time when modern humans were advancing across the continent.
Lead researcher Dr Svante Paabo, an evolutionary geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said: "This would be the first time we have sequenced the entire genome of an extinct organism."
But the prospect of using the genome to produce a living Neanderthal has been ruled out.
A popular caricature portrays Neanderthals as beetle-browed brutes - but this is far from the truth, reports New Scientist.
"Neanderthals were sophisticated stone-tool makers and made razor-sharp knives out of flint," said Dr Richard Klein, an anthropologist at Stanford University, California.
"They made fires when and where they wanted and seem to have made a living by hunting large mammals such as bison and deer."
Neanderthals also buried their dead, which, fortunately for researchers, increases the odds of the bones being preserved.
"By sequencing their entire genome we can begin to learn more about their biology," said Dr Eddy Rubin, a geneticist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Walnut Creek, California.
The genetic questions could also solve the biggest mystery of all - why did Neanderthals die out while modern humans went on to conquer the globe?
Dr Paabo and colleagues pioneered the genetic study of Neanderthals by extracting and decoding fragments of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the bones of the original specimen, discovered in 1856 in the Neander Valley in Germany.
The mtDNA Dr Paabo sequenced suggested humans split from Neanderthals about 500,000 years ago - which fits neatly with the fossil record. It also suggested Neanderthals did not interbreed with our ancestors.
Dr Paabo's team have selected two Neanderthal specimens to work on based on the fact both have "clean" DNA that is relatively uncontaminated.
One is a 38,000-year-old fossil from Vindija, Croatia. The other is the original specimen, which, despite being extensively handled, has unusually clean DNA in its right upper arm bone.
During its lifetime the individual lost the use of its left arm after breaking it and had to rely on the right arm - causing the bones to grow thicker and denser than usual.
After death this shielded the DNA from contamination. The researchers are also hunting for new specimens that can be sampled before other people get their hands on them.
They have so far sequenced about a million base pairs of nuclear DNA from the Croatian fossil and hope to publish a draft of the whole genome in two years.
"It is definitely possible to sequence the entire genome from such well-preserved specimens," said Dr Eske Willerslev, an expert in ancient DNA at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
"Perhaps the biggest difficulty will be verifying the sequences obtained are genuinely from the Neanderthal genome and not a contaminant - as so much of it will be identical to the human genome."
The genome is sure to fuel the particularly intense controversy that has surrounded a much-vaunted aspect of human uniqueness - language.
"There's been a debate going for more than 30 years about the speech capabilities of Neanderthals," says Dr Philip Lieberman, a cognitive scientist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
"It's clear from the fossil record and comparisons with modern humans that Neanderthals could speak."
But the prospect of the genome providing the blueprint for resurrecting a living "Jurassic-Park-style" Neanderthal is unlikely.
Dr Paabo said: "We would be able to create a physical Neanderthal genome but we will not be able to recreate a Neanderthal - even if we wanted to."
Thanks.
It's a miracle.
"Then look at the Basque language, unrelated to any other language(Lapp language too). Now if it's true that the last neanderthals died out in and around Gibraltar circa 19,000 years ago, could it be that spanish Basque is somehow a daughter language?....Has anyone ever looked closely at Basque DNA? "
There have been a lot of posts on the GGG list about a possible Basque link to the Celts, IIRC. Blam or SunkenCiv could help you on this one. They're both veritable fonts of knowledge in this area! :)
They have discovered a Neanderthal 'speech' bone. So, most agree now that they could talk,albeit in a high pitch if I remember correctly.
Another interpretation might be that they were of "contaminated" DNA and were wiped out by the flood.
They have never been wiped out. Why, some of my best friends are neanderthals...
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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