Search

Denisovans are members of a hominin group who are currently only known directly from fragmentary fossils, the genomes of which have been studied from a single site, Denisova Cave

In the originally published version of this Letter, the x axis in Fig. 3a should have been: 'PC1: 26%' rather than 'PC1: 46%', and the y axis should have been: 'PC2: 16%' rather than 'PC2: 29%'. We also noticed an error in the numbering of the fossils from Qafzeh: Qafzeh 27 should be removed, and Qafzeh 26 is actually Qafzeh 25, following Tillier (2014)1 and Schuh et al. (2017)2 and personal communication with B. Vandermeersch and M. D. Garralda. The correct enumeration of Qafzeh samples in the 'Mandibular metric data' section of the Methods is therefore: 'Qafzeh (9, 25)' rather than 'Qafzeh (9, 26, 27)'. Owing to the removal of Qafzeh 27, the convex hull of early modern humans changes slightly in Extended Data Fig. 1c. The sample sizes in Extended Data Fig. 1c should have read: Middle Pleistocene archaic Homo n = 19 (instead of 11), Neanderthals n = 40 (instead of 41), early modern humans n = 12 (instead of 7), and recent modern humans n = 46 (instead of 48). In Extended Data Table 2, the mean and standard deviation of corpus height and breadth at mental foramen for early modern humans should have been: x̅ = 33.15, σ = 3.26 for height (rather than x̅ = 34.23, σ = 4.57); and x̅ = 16.25, σ = 1.28 for breadth (rather than x̅ = 16.04, σ = 1.75). Accordingly, n = 12 (rather than n = 13) for both breadth and height. These errors have been corrected in the Letter online (the original Extended Data Fig. 1 is shown in Supplementary Information to this Amendment). These changes do not alter any inferences drawn from the data.

Although it has previously been shown that Neanderthals contributed DNA to modern humans(1,2), not much is known about the genetic diversity of Neanderthals or the relationship between late Neanderthal populations at the time at which their last interactions with early modern humans occurred and before they eventually disappeared. Our ability to retrieve DNA from a larger number of Neanderthal individuals has been limited by poor preservation of endogenous DNA(3) and contamination of Neanderthal skeletal remains by large amounts of microbial and present-day human DNA(3–5). Here we use hypochlorite treatment(6) of as little as 9 mg of bone or tooth powder to generate between 1- and 2.7-fold genomic coverage of five Neanderthals who lived around 39,000 to 47,000 years ago (that is, late Neanderthals), thereby doubling the number of Neanderthals for which genome sequences are available. Genetic similarity among late Neanderthals is well predicted by their geographical location, and comparison to the genome of an older Neanderthal from the Caucasus(2,7) indicates that a population turnover is likely to have occurred, either in the Caucasus or throughout Europe, towards the end of Neanderthal history. We find that the bulk of Neanderthal gene flow into early modern humans originated from one or more source populations that diverged from the Neanderthals that were studied here at least 70,000 years ago, but after they split from a previously sequenced Neanderthal from Siberia(2) around 150,000 years ago. Although four of the Neanderthals studied here post-date the putative arrival of early modern humans into Europe, we do not detect any recent gene flow from early modern humans in their ancestry.

8 páginas, 4 figuras, 1 tabla.-- Artículo Open Access.-- et al., Using DNA extracted from a finger bone found in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia, we have sequenced the genome of an archaic hominin to about 1.9-fold coverage. This individual is from a group that shares a common origin with Neanderthals. This population was not involved in the putative gene flow from Neanderthals into Eurasians; however, the data suggest that it contributed 4–6% of its genetic material to the genomes of present-day Melanesians. We designate this hominin population ‘Denisovans’ and suggest that it may have been widespread in Asia during the Late Pleistocene epoch. A tooth found in Denisova Cave carries a mitochondrial genome highly similar to that of the finger bone. This tooth shares no derived morphological features with Neanderthals or modern humans, further indicating that Denisovans have an evolutionary history distinct from Neanderthals and modern humans., The Presidential Innovation Fund of the Max Planck Society and the Krekeler Foundation provided financial support. M.S. was supported by a US National Institutes of Health grant (R01-GM40282). The National Science Foundation provided an International Postdoctoral Fellowship (OISE-0754461) to J.M.G., a Fellowship in Biological Informatics to P.L.F.J. and a HOMINID grant (1032255) to D.R.

In the originally published version of this Letter, the x axis in Fig. 3a should have been: ‘PC1: 26%’ rather than ‘PC1: 46%’, and the y axis should have been: ‘PC2: 16%’ rather than ‘PC2: 29%’. We also noticed an error in the numbering of the fossils from Qafzeh: Qafzeh 27 should be removed, and Qafzeh 26 is actually Qafzeh 25, following Tillier (2014)1 and Schuh et al. (2017)2 and personal communication with B. Vandermeersch and M. D. Garralda. The correct enumeration of Qafzeh samples in the ‘Mandibular metric data’ section of the Methods is therefore: ‘Qafzeh (9, 25)’ rather than ‘Qafzeh (9, 26, 27)’. Owing to the removal of Qafzeh 27, the convex hull of early modern humans changes slightly in Extended Data Fig. 1c. The sample sizes in Extended Data Fig. 1c should have read: Middle Pleistocene archaic Homo n = 19 (instead of 11), Neanderthals n = 40 (instead of 41), early modern humans n = 12 (instead of 7), and recent modern humans n = 46 (instead of 48). In Extended Data Table 2, the mean and standard deviation of corpus height and breadth at mental foramen for early modern humans should have been: x = 33.15, σ = 3.26 for height (rather than x = 34.23, σ = 4.57); and x = 16.25, σ = 1.28 for breadth (rather than x = 16.04, σ = 1.75). Accordingly, n = 12 (rather than n = 13) for both breadth and height. These errors have been corrected in the Letter online (the original Extended Data Fig. 1 is shown in Supplementary Information to this Amendment). These changes do not alter any inferences drawn from the data.

Humans differ from other primates in their significantly lengthened growth period. The persistence of a fetal pattern of brain growth after birth is another important feature of human development1. Here we present the results of an analysis of the 1.8-million-year-old Mojokerto child (Perning 1, Java), the only well preserved skull of a Homo erectus infant, by computed tomography. Comparison with a large series of extant humans and chimpanzees indicates that this individual was about 1 yr (0–1.5 yr) old at death and had an endocranial capacity at 72–84% of an average adult H. erectus. This pattern of relative brain growth resembles that of living apes, but differs from that seen in extant humans. It implies that major differences in the development of cognitive capabilities existed between H. erectus and anatomically modern humans.

No large group of recently extinct placental mammals remains as evolutionarily cryptic as the approximately 280 genera grouped as 'South American native ungulates'. To Charles Darwin, who first collected their remains, they included perhaps the 'strangest animal[s] ever discovered'. Today, much like 180 years ago, it is no clearer whether they had one origin or several, arose before or after the Cretaceous/Palaeogene transition 66.2 million years ago, or are more likely to belong with the elephants and sirenians of superorder Afrotheria than with the euungulates (cattle, horses, and allies) of superorder Laurasiatheria. Morphology-based analyses have proved unconvincing because convergences are pervasive among unrelated ungulate-like placentals. Approaches using ancient DNA have also been unsuccessful, probably because of rapid DNA degradation in semitropical and temperate deposits. Here we apply proteomic analysis to screen bone samples of the Late Quaternary South American native ungulate taxa Toxodon (Notoungulata) and Macrauchenia (Litopterna) for phylogenetically informative protein sequences. For each ungulate, we obtain approximately 90% direct sequence coverage of type I collagen α1- and α2-chains, representing approximately 900 of 1,140 amino-acid residues for each subunit. A phylogeny is estimated from an alignment of these fossil sequences with collagen (I) gene transcripts from available mammalian genomes or mass spectrometrically derived sequence data obtained for this study. The resulting consensus tree agrees well with recent higher-level mammalian phylogenies. Toxodon and Macrauchenia form a monophyletic group whose sister taxon is not Afrotheria or any of its constituent clades as recently claimed, but instead crown Perissodactyla (horses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses). These results are consistent with the origin of at least some South American native ungulates from 'condylarths', a paraphyletic assembly of archaic placentals. With ongoing improvements in instrumentation and analytical procedures, proteomics may produce a revolution in systematics such as that achieved by genomics, but with the possibility of reaching much further back in time., La lista completa de autores puede consultarse en el documento o en la página web de la revista., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

We present the high-quality genome sequence of a ∼45,000-year-old modern human male from Siberia. This individual derives from a population that lived before-or simultaneously with-the separation of the populations in western and eastern Eurasia and carries a similar amount of Neanderthal ancestry as present-day Eurasians. However, the genomic segments of Neanderthal ancestry are substantially longer than those observed in present-day individuals, indicating that Neanderthal gene flow into the ancestors of this individual occurred 7,000-13,000 years before he lived. We estimate an autosomal mutation rate of 0.4×10(-9) to 0.6×10(-9) per site per year, a Y chromosomal mutation rate of 0.7×10(-9) to 0.9×10(-9) per site per year based on the additional substitutions that have occurred in present-day non-Africans compared to this genome, and a mitochondrial mutation rate of 1.8×10(-8) to 3.2×10(-8) per site per year based on the age of the bone.

The classic frame of the Neanderthals — stocky, long-headed, with distinctive features of the skull — began to emerge around 400,000 years ago, and disappeared from hominins around 30,000 years ago. However, determining the precise identity of fragmentary fossils can be difficult. Krause et al. come to the rescue with mitochondrial DNA sequences that confirm that the skeleton of a child recovered in Uzbekistan in the 1930s was of Neanderthal origin — and showing that remains from the Altai region of Siberia, much further east, are also Neanderthal. This extends the Neanderthal range 2,000 km further east than previously assumed. Determining the precise identity or origin of fragmentary fossils can be difficult. Here, mitochondrial DNA sequences are used to confirm that the skeleton of a child recovered in Uzbekistan in the 1930s was of Neanderthal origin and that remains from the Altai region of Siberia, much further east, are also Neanderthal, extending the Neanderthal range 2,000 km further east than previously assumed. Morphological traits typical of Neanderthals began to appear in European hominids at least 400,000 years ago1 and about 150,000 years ago2 in western Asia. After their initial appearance, such traits increased in frequency and the extent to which they are expressed until they disappeared shortly after 30,000 years ago. However, because most fossil hominid remains are fragmentary, it can be difficult or impossible to determine unambiguously whether a fossil is of Neanderthal origin. This limits the ability to determine when and where Neanderthals lived. To determine how far to the east Neanderthals ranged, we determined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from hominid remains found in Uzbekistan and in the Altai region of southern Siberia. Here we show that the DNA sequences from these fossils fall within the European Neanderthal mtDNA variation. Thus, the geographic range of Neanderthals is likely to have extended at least 2,000 km further to the east than commonly assumed.

Draconian access requirements are squandering the potential of imaging technology to advance human palaeontology, cautions Jean-Jacques Hublin.

Jean-Jacques Hublin enjoys a book supporting the idea that modern humans replaced Neanderthals.

Four and a half million years ago, the first hominids were just another species of African ape competing for new ecological niches. Like all other species before them, the prehumans followed the well-trodden path of biological adaptation. However, in the course of their evolution, humans would differentiate dramatically from any other beings by developing increasingly complex technologies. Culture finally played an overwhelming role in their adaptive success, making them menacing challengers for control of the entire biosphere. Most of the human odyssey is summed up in the following statement: more and more cultural adaptation, less and less biological adaptation, but some, nonetheless. The notion of palaeoanthropology refers to the need to deal with both human palaeontology and palaeolithic archaeology in order to understand the extraordinary singularity of human evolution. This is the scope of The Human Career, but, surprisingly, of very few comparable publications. In its initial version, this book by Richard Klein was intended mainly for students. But after a decade of spectacular progress and controversies in this field, the book’s format and contents have been completely revised, and it has been transformed from a textbook to a sourcebook. Its second edition stands out in the landscape of scientific publishing. The Human Career describes one of the most spectacular changes to have occurred in our understanding of human evolution. The once-popular fresco showing a single file of marching hominids becoming ever more vertical, tall and hairless now appears to be a fiction. Humankind did not simply pass though successive stages, eventually leading Powering the planet

Nature 381, 224–226 (1996) One of the important morphometric variables assessed in the comparisons between the bony labyrinths of Neanderthals and modern humans is the sagittal labyrinthine index. This index expresses what percentage of the posterior semicircular canal is situated inferiorly to the plane of the lateral semicircular canal.