A Mysterious Extinct Species Seeded Their Genes in Modern Humans

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A Mysterious Extinct Species Seeded Their Genes in Modern Humans

The tree of life is often more like a vine that snakes back on itself, with tendrils briefly embracing before they reach for the sky or wither into nothing.

While much has been said about the Neanderthal and human branches of humanity, it’s becoming increasingly clear our past has had frequent encounters with another close relative known as the

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(pronounced duh-nee-suh-vns).

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of the existing research on Denisovan DNA by Trinity College Dublin population geneticists Linda Ongaro and Emilia Huerta-Sanchez brings us up to date on how our own biology has been influenced by the history of a people we still know so very little about.

According to their interpretation of the evidence, a number of

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populations that were adapted to environments across the ****** continent and beyond passed their genes to our own recent ancestors on multiple occasions, bestowing us with a selection of their advantages just as

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have done.

“It’s a common misconception that humans evolved suddenly and neatly from one common ancestor, but the more we learn the more we realize interbreeding with different hominins occurred and helped to shape the people we are today,”

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Ongaro, first author of the recent study.

Compared with the

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that scientists have spent examining

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, graves, and artifacts, our academic acquaintance with the Denisovans

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, and limited. A mere handful of teeth and bones belonging to these extinct relatives have been recovered

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.

Following a series of genetic analyses that began with a young female’s fingerbone

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, the ******** are now understood to belong to a previously undescribed hominin group that became genetically distinct from Neanderthals

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– most likely

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after Neanderthals became distinct from our own ancestors.

Our understanding of the range, culture, and adaptations of the Denisovans has been building slowly over the years, hinting at a rich diversity of humans with a genetic legacy that stretches from Siberia to South East Asia and across Oceania to even the Americas.

“By leveraging the surviving Denisovan segments in modern human genomes scientists have uncovered evidence of at least three past events whereby genes from distinct Denisovan populations made their way into the genetic signatures of modern humans,”

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Ongaro.

Branches of Denisovan populations have affected the genes of modern human populations across Oceania, South East Asia, and Siberia. (Ongaro et al., Nature Genetics, 2024)

Among extant genes known to have originated among Denisovans are sequences common in Tibetan populations that help the body cope with relatively

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, DNA that gives

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, and genes found

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that influence the burning of fats to cope better with the cold.

These join the diverse genes swapped through frequent interactions with Neanderthals that have

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, influenced

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, and even

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.

Ongaro and Huerta-Sanchez’s review serves to highlight not just what we’ve learned, but just how little we know about the way distinct pockets of modern humans have been changed by encounters with these extinct relatives.

“There are numerous future directions for research that will help us tell a more complete story of how the Denisovans impacted modern day humans, including more detailed genetic analyses in understudied populations, which could reveal currently hidden traces of Denisovan ancestry,”

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Ongaro.

This research was published in

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.

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#Mysterious #Extinct #Species #Seeded #Genes #Modern #Humans

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