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According to a new study, Neanderthal DNA inherited from a miscegenation might have helped modern humans to endow themselves with immunity against diseases.
Today, many Europeans and Asians own about 2% of Neanderthal DNA in their genes, but the presence of Neanderthal DNA in our genes was a mystery to scientists.
The researchers did not know whether the spread of Neanderthal DNA, inherited from a former miscegenation with modern humans before the demise of Neanderthals 40,000 years ago, had a specific purpose or s & # 39; it was simply a random event.
Now, a new study by researchers from Stanford University and published in the newspaper Cell discovered that the existence of Neanderthal DNA could protect modern humans against viruses to which they were not immediately immune.
"Our research shows that a large number of frequent Neanderthal DNA extracts have been adapted for a very cool reason," said Dmitry Petrov, a member of the research team who conducted the study. "The Neanderthal genes have probably afforded us some protection against the viruses our ancestors encountered when they left Africa."
By the time our early modern human ancestors left Africa, Neanderthals had been living in Europe and Asia for thousands of years and had thus built defenses against infectious viruses in the region.
These were infections against which modern humans could not have protected themselves, and the possibility of mingling with established Neanderthal populations has given modern humans the ability to "borrow" these defenses well. rather than waiting to develop theirs.
Stanford researchers found that this was the case by compiling a list of 4,500 genes in modern humans that are known to interact with viruses.
This gene list was then mapped to a sequenced Neanderthal DNA database, among which 152 modern human gene fragments were also present in the Neanderthals.
In addition, these 152 inherited genes specifically interact with viruses such as HIV, influenza A and hepatitis C.
The researchers concluded that it is these genes that have helped modern humans defend themselves against viruses, and that is why Neanderthal genes are manifested in different ways in the modern human genome.
Depending on the viruses present in Europe or Asia, this would determine which genes were borrowed by modern humans from Neanderthals.
The study highlights the evolution of modern man and the long-dead diseases that afflicted our ancestors.
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By Kay Vandette, Earth.com Editor
Image credit: Claire Scully
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