- Many people think that Neanderthals were the direct ancestors of the Cro-Magnons - the branch from which modern people descended, and this is myth number one, - began his lecture at the Festival of Fascinating Science, Deputy Director of the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics of Moscow State University, Doctor of Biological Sciences Mikhail Gelfand.
It turns out that in fact, representatives of these two species lived simultaneously for some time. The Neanderthals lived mainly in Europe.
“Then a crowd of aggressive Cro-Magnons came running there from Africa, attacked peaceful Neanderthals, hybridized with them (that is, interbreeding took place), and the Neanderthals themselves soon became extinct,” Professor Gelfand says half-jokingly, half-seriously.
Scientists managed to establish that "genes of aggression" were indeed a distinctive feature of Cro-Magnons, who spread throughout the world, as you know, from the African continent (Neanderthals also came from there, only earlier). But after sequencing - a complete reading of the genome of Neanderthals, the researchers restored the features and properties that refute many of the prevailing ideas about these human ancestors. In particular, it turned out that among Neanderthals:
- there was light skin, - hair in shades of blond, light blond or red, - blue, gray, light green eyes, Promotional video:
- hyperlordosis.
“That is, their spine was straight, and they, apparently, could boast of excellent posture, while we often imagine Neanderthals hunched over - this is a gross mistake,” said Mikhail Gelfand. In general, when the researchers modeled their appearance on the basis of DNA decoding, the Neanderthal girls turned out to be very pretty even by today's standards (see photo).
DO NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT MEAT
- After crossing Cro-Magnons with Neanderthals, the first appeared and fixed some types of genes - first of all, adaptive, helping to better adapt to life in the new climatic conditions of Europe, - the scientist continues. - Some of these genes are also found in modern humans: it has been established that the genome of every European now contains on average about 2% of Neanderthal alleles, that is, gene variants.
We inherited from the Neanderthals the very characteristic features of the inhabitants of the north and middle lane: fair skin, hair, eyes, although we have some mutations independently. In addition, studies have shown the contribution of Neanderthal genes to the formation of immunity.
Finally, more recently, scientists have established that it is the Neanderthal variants of genes that are largely responsible for lipid metabolism - the process of breaking down and assimilating fats in our body. This conclusion was reached by a group of researchers led by our compatriot, evolutionary biologist Philip Haytovich, who today combines work at the Shanghai Research Institute (China) and the leadership of the laboratory of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech).
- I have a version of the explanation of the data obtained, - said Mikhail Gelfand, who was a participant in this work. - Unlike the East Asian regions, where they feed mainly on plant foods, Europeans were primarily hunters and gatherers, eating mostly meat, like the Neanderthals, who adapted to such a diet for hundreds of thousands of years.
When our Cro-Magnon ancestors came from Africa, for them the alleles associated with the meat diet turned out to be adaptive - providing an adaptation for better survival in the new territory. Accordingly, these Neanderthal alleles were fixed in the genome of Cro-Magnons living in Europe (but not Asians).
BTW
Today, anyone can figure out what percentage of Neanderthal genes they have. This is determined by the results of genotyping - a procedure when, using DNA taken from saliva, researchers determine variants of certain genes responsible for certain traits. So, the correspondent, the author of this material, according to the results of genotyping, received a result of 0.9%.
“Actually, this is not enough for a European (recall that the inhabitants of the European continent, on average, have about 2% of Neanderthal genes),” commented Mikhail Gelfand. "But the individual variation can be quite large." As experts explain, fragments of the Neanderthal genome are "scattered" throughout the genome of modern humans, and it is not a fact that during genotyping exactly those DNA regions where Neanderthal genes are inserted will be examined.
