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20% of Neanderthal Genome Survives In Humans

Posted by Soulskill on from the long-term-data-storage dept.

vinces99 writes "A substantial fraction of the Neanderthal genome persists in modern human populations. A new analysis (abstract) of 665 people from Europe and East Asia shows that more than 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome survives in the DNA of this contemporary group, whose genetic information is part of the 1,000 Genomes Project." Another study published today (abstract) finds that Neanderthal genes are present in some parts of our genome that we've found to be important. Some of the genes influence fertility and skin pigment, and others actually increase our susceptibility to diseases like diabetes and lupus. The researchers are now taking these known genetic markers and seeing if they correlate with any other health conditions.

5 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Yes but by oldhack · · Score: 4, Funny

    You replicate those genes by 3d printing, and offer them for bitcoins, and that's how you end up on slashdot.

    --
    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
  2. As someone who works in tech support... by FuzzNugget · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm surprised it's not higher.

    1. Re:As someone who works in tech support... by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Funny

      " them dying off/merging may simply have been a matter of a warming earth. They were more barrel chested and not able to withstand the warmer climates as well."

      Or they were 80% more tasty.

  3. Time to repost (someone else's) old comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    From God's Roadmap:

    Beta
    Release version: Homo neanderthalensis
    Build name: Adam
    Release date: 4,569,770,000 years after cooling
    Deprecated: 4,569,971,000 years after cooling

    Stable
    Release version: Homo sapiens
    Build name: Eve
    Release date: 4,569,800,000 years after cooling
    Deprecated:
    [Sigh] Still deciding. I mean, the codebase is starting to look a bit creaky in a few places, and they're starting to tinker with it themselves (they think it's open source - hah!). Inquisitive little so-and-so's can't leave well enough alone... They've noticed the legacy code from the previous build too - ick, some cruft in there. Very tempting to trash the lot and start again using AOP. Mind you I mightn't have to lift a finger if they don't stop blowing each other to smithereens.
    [sigh] TODO: Take oort cloud inventory - look for something nice and big...

  4. At least 20% by russotto · · Score: 3, Funny

    In fact, 20% survive in Arnold Schwarzenegger alone. Add the National Football League, WWE Wrestling, and the Texas State Board of Education, and you've probably got well above 90%.