20% of Neanderthal Genome Survives In Humans

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.

Comments

Human-specific part is 20% common...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think they're referring to the section of our DNA which is specific to the Homo genus.

That is, DNA for the Homo genus is probably about 99.5% or more in common, across all species of Homo. You can tell where the Homo DNA starts by comparing it to other members of the subfamily Homininae, and looking for differences.

So, in the Homo-specific portions of our DNA, TFA is claiming that 20% or so is common to modern humans and Neanderthals. That still seems low, given the interbreeding of Neanderthal and Modern Humans, and the fact we both share a direct common ancestor.

Re:Party "Animal"

[Tablizer]

Hardly - the caves that were decorated are all deep, deep underground and very hard to get to

We perhaps are only seeing the art that is in hard-to-get-to caves precisely because it is hard to get to. Most surface art would be wiped out by weather or vandals. Thus, we are probably not seeing an accurate representation of original locations.