mitochondrial DNA
Part of a Denisovan mtDNA resides in the nuclear genomes of many living people
A paper last week by Robert Bücking and coworkers trawled through the recently-sequenced Indonesian Genome Diversity Project dataset looking for snippets of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that have been inserted into the nuclear genome. These snippets, called “NUMTs”, arise every so often as a result of DNA transfer from the mitochondrion
![A reproduction of the Denisova 3 finger bone sits on a chalk outline of a hand](/content/images/size/w1460/2022/01/denisova-finger-bone.jpg)
Another Denisovan from Denisova Cave
A review of the 2015 work identifying the Denisova 8 specimen by Susanna Sawyer and coworkers.
![Denisova 8 molar](/content/images/size/w1460/2022/01/denisova-8-molar.jpg)
A mysterious mitochondrial sequence from Denisova Cave, Russia
A small fragment of finger bone with a DNA sequence that represents a previously-unknown form of hominin.
![A fragment of finger bone upon a chalk outline of a hand skeleton](/content/images/size/w1460/2022/09/denisova-finger-bone.jpg)