London: Scientists have claimed that human evolution also occurred outside Africa, after they found evidence that people in East Asia share genetic material with Denisovans, known as the mysterious cousins of Neanderthals. A team at Uppsala University in Sweden says that hybridization took place at several points in evolution and the genetic traces of this can be found in several places in the world.
“We’ll probably be uncovering more events like these. Previous studies have found two separate hybridization events between so-called archaic humans — different from modern humans in both genetics and morphology — and ancestors of modern humans after their emergence from Africa.
“There was hybridization between Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern humans outside of Africa and hybridization between Denisovans (who got the name from the cave in Siberia where they were first found) and the ancestors of indigenous Oceanians. “The genetic difference between Neanderthals and Denisovans is roughly as great as the maximal level of variation among us modern humans,” prof Mattias Jakobsson, who led the team, said.
For their research, the scientists use genetic data from more than 1,500 modern humans from all over the world.
Jakobsson said: “We found that individuals from mainly Southeast Asia have a higher proportion of Denisova — related genetic variants than people from other parts of the world, such as Europe, America, West and Central Asia, and Africa. The findings show that gene flow from archaic
human groups also occurred on the Asian mainland.”
Added team member Pontus Skoglund: “While we can see that genetic material of archaic humans lives on to a greater extent than what was previously thought, we still know very little about the history of these groups and when their contacts with modern humans occurred.” Because they find Denisova gene variants in south east Asia, Oceania, but not in Europe and America, scientists suggest that hybridisation with Denisova man took place about 20 million years ago, but could also have occurred earlier. PTI
“We’ll probably be uncovering more events like these. Previous studies have found two separate hybridization events between so-called archaic humans — different from modern humans in both genetics and morphology — and ancestors of modern humans after their emergence from Africa.
“There was hybridization between Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern humans outside of Africa and hybridization between Denisovans (who got the name from the cave in Siberia where they were first found) and the ancestors of indigenous Oceanians. “The genetic difference between Neanderthals and Denisovans is roughly as great as the maximal level of variation among us modern humans,” prof Mattias Jakobsson, who led the team, said.
For their research, the scientists use genetic data from more than 1,500 modern humans from all over the world.
Jakobsson said: “We found that individuals from mainly Southeast Asia have a higher proportion of Denisova — related genetic variants than people from other parts of the world, such as Europe, America, West and Central Asia, and Africa. The findings show that gene flow from archaic
human groups also occurred on the Asian mainland.”
Added team member Pontus Skoglund: “While we can see that genetic material of archaic humans lives on to a greater extent than what was previously thought, we still know very little about the history of these groups and when their contacts with modern humans occurred.” Because they find Denisova gene variants in south east Asia, Oceania, but not in Europe and America, scientists suggest that hybridisation with Denisova man took place about 20 million years ago, but could also have occurred earlier. PTI
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