Neanderthal genomics and the evolution of modern humans: Figure 1.

Abstract

Humans possess unique physical and cognitive characteristics relative to other primates. Comparative analyses of the human and chimpanzee genomes are beginning to reveal sequence changes on the human lineage that may have contributed to the evolution of human traits. However, these studies cannot identify the genetic differences that distinguish modern humans from archaic human species. Here, I will discuss efforts to obtain genomic sequence from Neanderthal, the closest known relative of modern humans. Recent studies in this nascent field have focused on developing methods to recover nuclear DNA from Neanderthal remains. The success of these early studies has inspired a Neanderthal genome project, which promises to produce a reference Neanderthal genome sequence in the near future. Technical issues, such as the level of Neanderthal sequence coverage that can realistically be obtained from a single specimen and the presence of modern human contaminating sequences, reduce the detection of authentic human–Neanderthal sequence differences but may be remedied by methodological improvements. More critical for the utility of a Neanderthal genome sequence is the evolutionary relationship of humans and Neanderthals. Current evidence suggests that the modern human and Neanderthal lineages diverged before the emergence of contemporary humans. A fraction of biologically relevant human–chimpanzee sequence differences are thus likely to have arisen and become fixed exclusively on the modern human lineage. A reconstructed Neanderthal genome sequence could be integrated into human–primate genome comparisons to help reveal the evolutionary genetic events that produced modern humans.

The Species Concept as a Cognitive Tool for Biological Anthropology

“…Green et al, 2009;Harvati, 2011;Noonan, 2010, and many others]. Stone tools are not very reliable for assessing taxonomy because of circularity between the presence of the tool and the supposed toolmaker.…”

“…Recently, molecular analyses have also been added to taxonomic issues in paleanthropology [e.g. Green et al, 2009;Harvati, 2011;Noonan, 2010, and many others]. However, thus far it seems that these new approaches have only introduced new debates and disagreement based on different results, without resolving any long-lasting issue.…”

What Next? The Next Transit from Biology to Diagnostics: Next Generation Sequencing for Immunogenetics

“…This is mind-blowing, especially considering the meticulous work applied to examining minute bone samples aged more than 30,000 years with highly fragmented DNA and potential contamination [11,12]. Even the sequencing of a wooly mammoth highlighted how fast total genome sequencing may be applied after discovery [13]. Sequencing organisms, especially workhorses in biological research like Caenorhabditis elegans, its transcriptome, or the distribution of miRNAs in Danio rerio and the mapping of the Escherichia coli genome elucidated basic requirements in structural biology and led to further work on unknown organisms and viruses [14][15][16][17][18].…”

Ancient population genomics and the study of evolution

“…It is clear that both strategies have merit. For example, studies of ancient humans will probably always be limited to a small number of available samples [16]. Yet the value of these data in understanding the history of our own species is important, and consequently, substantial resources have been dedicated to the production of individual draft hominin genomes [9][10][11].…”