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(September 20, 2019 / JNS) A team led by two researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Thursday unveiled the first reconstructed anatomical profile of an archaic human group called Denisovans.
Professors Liran Carmel and David Gokhman said their team had rebuilt these former parents over a three-year period based on models of their old DNA methylation, or chemical modifications that affected the activity of a gene, but not its underlying DNA sequence.
The Denisovans lived in Siberia and East Asia before being extinct about 50,000 years ago.
Since the researchers' first discovery in 2008, the Denisovan remains collection includes three teeth, a pink bone and a lower jaw.
The team proved that his model was accurate to about 85% using the same methodology to create anatomical models of Neanderthal – another group of archaic humans who had died out in Europe there was about 40,000 years old – and chimpanzees.
Anatomical comparison of modern humans, Neanderthals and skeletons of Denisovan. Credit: Maayan Harel.
About the profile accuracy of the Denisovans, Carmel said: "One of the most exciting moments was spent a few weeks after sending our article to a reading committee. . The scientists had discovered a maxillary Denisovan. We quickly compared this bone to our predictions and found that it fit perfectly. Without even planning it, we received independent confirmation of our ability to reconstruct entire anatomical profiles with the help of DNA that we extracted at the fingertips. "
Many mysteries about the Denisovans remain and Carmel acknowledged that "there is still a long way to go to answer these questions."
But, she said, "our study sheds light on how Denisovans have adapted to their environment, highlighting the characteristics of modern humans that separate us from these other human groups. , today disappeared ".
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