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paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Mailbag: Did Neandertals have the derived MCPH1 allele?

Thu, 2011-12-15 08:38 -- John Hawks

Re: "Introgression and microcephalin FAQ"

Hi Dr. Hawks,

I just ran across your introgression and microcephalin FAQ on your blog, and I wanted to ask you one quick question. Now that we have a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, has anyone yet looked to confirm that one of the modern human microcephalin alleles was bestowed upon us by admixture with Neanderthals?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for writing!

Lari and colleagues published on this last year: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010648, [1] they didn't find the derived (presumed introgressed) allele in Monti Lessini 1. We have no sign of it in the Vindija genomes, either. So far, no sign of it. The other encouraging gene region was an inversion including the MAPT gene; this also has not yet been found in a Neandertal.

So now we have tons of evidence of introgression, but none of the genes that we thought were strong cases before the ancient DNA. That doesn't rule out that we'll find these other cases in some ancient specimen, but in the meantime we're working on what we have.

References

  1. Lari M, Rizzi E, Milani L, Corti G, Balsamo C, Vai S, Catalano G, Pilli E, Longo L, Condemi S, et al. The Microcephalin Ancestral Allele in a Neanderthal Individual. PLoS ONE [Internet]. 2010;5:e10648+. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010648
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Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.