Neanderthal DNA in the Genomes

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A surge of early humans traveled out of Africa over 60,000 years ago, extending across the globe. These explorers encountered a landscape of early humans that was significantly different from the ones they had left behind. Neanderthals inhabited the European and Middle Eastern landscapes. The Denisovans, their sibling group, expanded throughout Asia. Moreover, it appears that when these groups interacted, they mated. The article shares the reasons behind the presence of Denisovans; genetic fingerprints are present in many parts of the world today.

The study, which was released in January 2020, made startling discoveries. The study found that current African people had more Neanderthal DNA than previously considered. More than a third of what the scientists discovered for Asians and Europeans. According to the concept, Neanderthal ancestry among Europeans was also overestimated. The study, conducted by researcher Joshua Akey, a geneticist at Princeton University, was the first skeptic (Wei-Haas 1). However, after another year and a half of intensive testing, the author and his coworkers feel the findings are correct. Approximately 17 million nucleotide bases of African chromosomes are Neanderthal, partly due to contemporary European ancestors returning to Africa and bearing fragments of Neanderthal DNA in the genomes.

Reflection

Akey and his associates were not the first to raise the possibility of Neanderthal ancestry in African people. However, when the initial Neanderthal genome was revealed in 2010, no comparable markers were detected in current African genomes, making these arguments impossible to support. Most genetic research is still done on persons of European heritage, a prejudice that scientifically overlooks large swathes of the contemporary human population (Wei-Haas 1). Geneticists may have inadvertently harmed their findings by making false assumptions because African origins need to be better known. The approach found seventeen million nucleotide sequences in African chromosomes as Neanderthal while identifying 51 million nucleotide sequences in European genomes and 55 million for Asian populations (Shook 412). When the researchers studied the three main groupings, they discovered that the Neanderthal markers in African genomes were more similar to those of Westerners than East Asians.

The overall image emerges from repeated immigration between Eurasia and Africa, with ancient peoples probably crossing the continent several times. Whenever migration from Africa peaked between 10,000 and 60,000 years ago, subgroups of this population flowed back into Africa during the past 20,000 years, contaminating the continent’s human genomes with Neanderthal DNA. According to Akey, an initial Homo sapiens fled Africa over 200,000 years ago and mingled with Neanderthals whenever they arrived in Europe (Shook 432). As a result, when modern humans returned to the height of migration, Neanderthals had a few Homo Sapiens Genes in their genotype.

Although knowing what more DNA a person has than their Neanderthal ancestors is intriguing, this knowledge does not give helpful information about their present health or risk of getting certain diseases. Other research has yet to discover the same links. The impact of Neanderthal genetic variations on illness risk is still being investigated, and most immediate test results do not yet contain them. Having less or more DNA in commonality with ancient people indicates nothing about a person’s “evolution,” nor does it indicate strength or intellect. The search to understand the distinct genetic variations a person received from Neanderthal ancestors offers very minimal data regarding a few physical features for the time being. Something that was most intriguing about that information in the article was the indication that ancient contemporary humans crossbred with Neanderthals very early, before the major migration out of Africa. Another striking finding was that the degree of genetic variation was comparable to that observed in certain solitary modern human communities, as opposed to the Altai Neandertal, which was highly inbred.

Works Cited

Shook, Beth, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera, and Lara Braff. Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology. American Anthropological Association, 2019. Web.

Wei-Haas, Maya. You May Have More Neanderthal DNA than You Think. National Geographic, 2020. Web.

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Neanderthal DNA in the Genomes

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