Only 7% of our genome is shared by other humans (study)

Illustrative image of researchers in a medical laboratory. Source: story blocks

California (@apnews) – 07/17/2021. 12:33

Study reveals relationship between our DNA and our missing ancestors

• New study shows only 7 percent of our genome is only shared by other humans
• Modern humans share some DNA with Neanderthals, but different people share different parts of their genome.
• The researchers also found that a smaller part of our genome – just 1.5% – is unique between different human lineages.
• Alan Templeton questioned the authors’ hypothesis that changes in the human genome are randomly distributed

What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step towards solving a persistent puzzle with a new tool that can allow more precise comparisons between DNA Modern humans and the DNA of our extinct ancestors, according to Associated Press.

A new study shows that only 7 percent of our genome is only shared by other humans, and not shared by other ancestors.

One of the goals of the new research was to identify genes exclusive to modern humans.

The study was based on DNA extracted from fossil remains of Neanderthals

The study was based on DNA extracted from the fossil remains of now extinct Neanderthals and Denisovans, dating to around 40,000 or 50,000 years ago, as well as 279 modern people around the world.

“It’s a very small percentage,” said Nathan Schaefer, a computational biologist at the University of California and co-author of the new study. This kind of discovery is the reason why scientists are far from thinking that we humans are very different from Neanderthals. “

Modern humans share some DNA with Neanderthals, but different people share different parts of their genome.

That’s a difficult statistical problem, said John Hawkes, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, United States, who was not involved in the study. “Researchers have developed a valuable tool that takes into account missing data in the old genome.”

The researchers also found that a smaller part of our genome – just 1.5% – is unique among different human lineages and common to all living people today. These DNA fragments may hold the most important clues about what really sets modern humans apart.

“We can say that these regions of the genome are very rich in genes involved in neural development and brain function,” said Richard Green, computational biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, co-author of the study.

In 2010, Green helped produce the first draft of the Neanderthal genome sequence. Four years later, geneticist Joshua Ake co-wrote an article showing that modern humans carry remnants of Neanderthal DNA.

Since then, scientists have continued to refine techniques for extracting and analyzing genetic material from fossils.

Alan Templeton, a population geneticist at Washington University in St. Louis, questioned the authors’ hypothesis that changes in the human genome are distributed randomly, rather than aggregated around specific hotspots in the human genome. within the genome.

The results confirm that “we are, in fact, a very small species,” Aki said. “It wasn’t that long ago that we shared the planet with other human races.”