A Native American recently went viral after discovering unusual amount of Neanderthal in his DNA which sparked renewed interest about our ancient genetic roots as several human groups existed in “the land before time.”
A professor at the University of Pennsylvania even told Newsweek at the time that the interbreeding of human species still remains an untapped area of research. To make a real conclusion, he said, we need to investigate further and then, a study was published shortly thereafter.
It turns out, the young man who went viral isn’t even that rare. Most of us seem to have a little Neanderthal across our DNA. Research seems to suggest that we split — homo sapiens and Neanderthals — over 500,000 years ago to reunite later on as the two groups migrated to other continents.
Most of the Neanderthal DNA that modern humans have, however, it turns out, traces back to a specific moment in time about 47,000 years ago, according to a study reported in Science, when the two groups got together and made babies.
In analyzing the DNA of both species, we basically have the same genetic code, except the Neanderthal Y chromosome doesn’t seem to appear our DNA as The Conversation reported. Though we have a similar blueprint, then, the lack of this gene in our DNA raises questions.
The story behind the X and the Y chromosomes
Usually, males have one X and one Y, and females have two X chromosomes. Sometimes a person can be born with more or less sex chromosomes which tends to lead to complications for reasons that we don’t totally understand.
That aside, we all get some combination of the X from the male or female parent. The Y, however, only comes from the male. Because of that, the absence of this Neanderthal chromosome might provide a clue of some kind.
But then, to even out the playing field, no trace of Neanderthal mtDNA has been found in modern humans either which comes directly from the maternal line, so it seems these cycled out for some reason.
The Y plays an important role in biological sex and male fertility, according to a study . While mtDNA can provide some health insights, its overall implications remain unclear.
Some genetic combinations might not work, why? We don’t know…
The manner in which these two groups united for breeding remains uncertain, with little studied in this aspect of our history.
The Natural Museum published an article about a paper written about whether homo sapiens might have brought about the extinction of Neanderthals through sex which might have reduced the number of Neanderthals breeding with one another.
As other species demonstrate, some directions just don’t work.
“For instance, pollen from the Capsella rubella plant can successfully fertilise Capsella grandiflora seeds, but not the other way round.”
The Natural Museum says that the lack of mtDNA might mean that only male Neanderthals and female homo sapiens mated, but some evidence seems to suggest that “male hybrids might have been less fertile than females.”
The Y evolves faster according to The Conversation and is related to male fertility, maybe these hybrid male offspring did experience issues due to the genetic meeting of the two groups.
“As more Neanderthal genomes are sequenced, ” however, the author of a paper on the subject of mating between the two groups said that “we should be able to see whether any nuclear DNA from Homo sapiens was passed on to Neanderthals and demonstrate whether or not this idea is accurate.”
So, there are still gaps to be filled regarding how our ancestors encountered and interbred.
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