The American geneticist Ryan Bolender, who works at the University of Texas, managed to identify traces of deoxyribonucleic acid in the genome of a modern Melanesian hominid unknown to science. The journalists of the authoritative scientific journal "Science Alert" inform us about this.
For many years Bolender studied the genetic code of the extinct ancestors of today's civilization. For a long time, the researcher analyzed disseminations of Neanderthal DNA in the genome of modern humans, and in 2008 he also began studying the DNA of Denisovan humans - a species of extinct people, the remains of one of which were found eight years ago in the Denisova Cave of the Altai Territory of the Russian Federation.
The American made his discovery during the analysis of the genome of peoples inhabiting the Pacific Islands. The scientist unexpectedly discovered that the DNA of the Melanesians contains traces of an unknown member of the hominid family. Encouraged by his find, the geneticist continued his research and determined that the mysterious progressive primate was neither Neanderthal nor Denisovan. This, according to Bolender, suggests that we had one more, third ancestor who has not survived to this day.
The specialist expressed his theory a few months ago at a conference of the American Society of Geneticists. Danish scientists interested in this statement joined the study, who conducted a thorough DNA analysis of one hundred and eight inhabitants of Melanesia and also found a trace of an unknown ancient primate in the deoxyribonucleic acid of the islanders, thus confirming the words of their colleague.