2023-10-21 04:00:14
A new look at our DNA reveals why Europeans have fewer Neanderthal genes than East Asians.
All humans with ancestors outside of Africa have some Neanderthal genes, regarding 2% of the genome on average. However, people of Asian origin have between 8% and 24% more than those of European origin. However, Neanderthals lived in Europe (Europe is a land region that can be considered a…). So why this difference? According to a new study, the answer is simple: migration. A first migratory wave of Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens, which means “Wise Man” in Latin, or Modern Man is a…), who were hunter-gatherers, left Africa (With an area of 30 221,532 km2 including the islands,…) at least 40,000 years ago. The latter crossed paths with Homo neanderthalensis in Europe, generating a crossbreeding. A second migratory wave, this one dating back 10,000 years and composed of farmers from the Middle East, then diluted the genes of Neanderthals in Europe only.
“It’s a simple explanation,” says Claudio Quilodrán, a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolution at the University of Oxford. The humans who populated Eastern Asia around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago did not have not known this phenomenon of dilution (Dilution is a process consisting of obtaining a final solution of concentration…).
To arrive at these conclusions, the researchers analyzed 4,464 genomes of Homo sapiens, ancient and modern. They observed a reduction in Neanderthal DNA in Europeans compared to their Asian counterparts. This change occurred well following the first encounter between the two species.
This study might therefore resolve an old genetic paradox (Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ = giving birth) is…). John Hawks, paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, points out that this single migration would be enough to explain the observed difference. “This makes the system very fluid (A fluid is a perfectly deformable material medium. We group under this…)”, adds Richard Potts, director of the program on human origins at the National Museum of Natural History (The approach of systematic observation and description of nature begins as early as…) in Washington.
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