Newly published research in Nature sheds new light on human ancestry on the basis of a genomic analysis of a leg bone (femur) from a Russian riverbank. The bone is estimated to be between 43,000-47,000 years old (point estimate 45K) and, though it contains the same amount of Neanderthal DNA as current non-African humans (i.e., 2%), the sequences are longer implying that humans and Neanderthals "interacted" (i.e., did the "nasty") about 50,000-60,000 years ago or about 5-15K years before the guy's whose leg bone we have. Previously, the time interval was estimated to be 37,000-86,000 years ago.
For more on this topic, Scientific American has an article for the general public; see: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/45-000-year-old-mans-genome-sequenced/ which is based on/copied from Nature; see: http://www.nature.com/news/oldest-known-human-genome-sequenced-1.16194 The original research article is available on the Nature website: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7523/full/nature13810.html However, this is behind a paywall, so you'd probably have to get via your institution if you don't subscribe to "Nature". -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=39414 or send a blank email to leave-39414-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
