Human Stem Cell Resources Are an Inroad to Neandertal DNA Functions

Dannemann, Michael; He, Zhisong; Heide, Christian; Vernot, Benjamin; Sidow, Leila; Kanton, Sabina; Weigert, Anne; Treutlein, Barbara; Pääbo, Svante; Kelso, Janet; Camp, J. Gray

doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.05.018

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Many issues are epistemological, including the fact that the cognition of extinct hominin species cannot be directly assessed and valid model organisms for these species are currently non-existent (cf. Breyl 2020; Michlich 2018: 7; Putt et al 2017: 1; but see Dannemann et al 2020;Trujillo et al 2021). Fortunately, however, the small number of previous experimental studies provide a valuable, albeit only fragmentary picture of how Palaeolithic-stone-tool-related behaviors are associated with modern brain and cognitive functioning.…”

Section: Previous Experimental Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

Gabrić¹,

Banda²,

Karavanić³

2021

Preprint

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Experimental data suggesting a co-evolutionary relationship between Palaeolithic stone toolmaking, and cognition and language remain limited to indirect findings of neurophysiological studies. Furthermore, retouch and quartz flaking remain uninvestigated. We recruited thirteen subjects and taught them to produce quartz choppers and chert sidescrapers in either a verbal or gestural condition. Two raters rated on a 5-point scale the subjects’ performances on specific steps of the two stone toolmaking tasks. Subjects also performed on a neuropsychological battery encompassing visuospatial, executive functioning, and linguistic tasks. Given the small sample size, the results should be regarded as exploratory and preliminary. There was only limited evidence that verbal compared to gestural teaching facilitated acquisition. Quartz chopper manufacture was not associated with cognitive performance. Conversely, chert flaking and retouch were moderately and strongly associated with visuospatial working memory and executive functioning. Specific aspects of chert flaking were also associated with verbal fluency performance, showing, among others, moderate and strong positive associations with the productivity and rate of production of syntactically transitive verbs on action fluency. Controversially assuming similar results would have been obtained by testing extinct hominins, our results possibly suggest Oldowan hominins relied on modern-like visuospatial working memory and executive functioning during chert knapping. Furthermore, some prerequisites for aspects of action language and syntactic transitivity in modern humans might have been to some degree present in Oldowan hominin populations. We conclude by proposing that the quality of performance on Oldowan knapping may not reflect the full level of cognitive capacities of Oldowan populations.

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Section: Previous Experimental Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

Gabrić¹,

Banda²,

Karavanić³

2021

Preprint

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“…It remains to be seen how successful these approaches are at predicting archaic human phenotypes. A possible inroad into validation could rest on functional assays for testing and evaluating the phenotypic impact of archaic DNA ( Dannemann et al, 2020 ; Dannemann and Gallego Romero, 2021 ; Trujillo et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Inferring Complex Traits In Archaic Hominidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Human Paleogenetics: What can Ancient DNA Tell us About Complex Trait Evolution?

et al. 2021

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Genetic association data from national biobanks and large-scale association studies have provided new prospects for understanding the genetic evolution of complex traits and diseases in humans. In turn, genomes from ancient human archaeological remains are now easier than ever to obtain, and provide a direct window into changes in frequencies of trait-associated alleles in the past. This has generated a new wave of studies aiming to analyse the genetic component of traits in historic and prehistoric times using ancient DNA, and to determine whether any such traits were subject to natural selection. In humans, however, issues about the portability and robustness of complex trait inference across different populations are particularly concerning when predictions are extended to individuals that died thousands of years ago, and for which little, if any, phenotypic validation is possible. In this review, we discuss the advantages of incorporating ancient genomes into studies of trait-associated variants, the need for models that can better accommodate ancient genomes into quantitative genetic frameworks, and the existing limits to inferences about complex trait evolution, particularly with respect to past populations.

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“…Considering the high number FIGURE 2 | Addressing the neurobiology of recent human history using iPSCs. Human pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) carrying natural or introduced (via CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing) Neandertal or Denisovan ancestry can be differentiated into various 2D-cell systems and 3D-organoids types to generate "ancestralized" cells and tissues like brain, lung, liver, heart, pancreas, and intestine (Dannemann et al, 2020).…”

Section: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived Neurons and The Dawn mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Genomics studies showed that a portion of the genome from present-day humans outside Africa originates from an ancient admixture between modern humans and archaic humans. This admixture introduced Neanderthal and Denisovan alleles that are still present in humans today (Meyer et al, 2012;Prüfer et al, 2014;Slon et al, 2018) and that are carried on in human iPSCs derived from present day individuals (Dannemann et al, 2020) (Figure 2).…”

Section: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived Neurons and The Dawn mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Closer Look to the Evolution of Neurons in Humans and Apes Using Stem-Cell-Derived Model Systems

Schörnig

Taverna

2021

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

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The cellular, molecular and functional comparison of neurons from closely related species is crucial in evolutionary neurobiology. The access to living tissue and post-mortem brains of humans and non-human primates is limited and the state of the tissue might not allow recapitulating important species-specific differences. A valid alternative is offered by neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) obtained from humans and non-human apes and primates. We will review herein the contribution of iPSCs-derived neuronal models to the field of evolutionary neurobiology, focusing on species-specific aspects of neuron’s cell biology and timing of maturation. In addition, we will discuss the use of iPSCs for the study of ancient human traits.

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Human Stem Cell Resources Are an Inroad to Neandertal DNA Functions

Cited by 20 publications

References 57 publications

Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

Cognitive performance and specific aspects of language processing are associated with Oldowan-like chert flaking and retouch

Quantitative Human Paleogenetics: What can Ancient DNA Tell us About Complex Trait Evolution?

A Closer Look to the Evolution of Neurons in Humans and Apes Using Stem-Cell-Derived Model Systems

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