science
DNA From 27 Northwestern Neanderthal Remains Shows Lower Diversity Than Modern Humans but No Further Decline
@NewScientist reported that researchers sequenced DNA from 27 remains across Belgian and French sites dating 52,500 to 40,000 years ago. The genomes indicate stable diversity and no rise in harmful mutations or close-kin mating in this population.
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Researchers have sequenced DNA from 27 Neanderthal remains recovered from seven sites in Belgium and two sites in France. The remains date from 52,500 years ago to approximately 40,000 years ago and represent at least 11 distinct individuals. One high-quality genome came from a woman whose remains were found in Goyet cave, Belgium, and who lived about 45,000 years ago.
The same remains showed evidence of cannibalism. Remains from Spy Cave in Belgium were also included in the analysis. @NewScientist reported that genetic diversity in these north-western Neanderthals was lower than that of contemporaneous modern humans yet showed no reduction over time.
No evidence of an increasing burden of harmful genetic mutations was detected, and no signs of mating between close relatives appeared in the group. The north-western Neanderthals exhibited greater genetic diversity than Neanderthals previously studied in the Altai region of Siberia.
They are more closely related to each other than to late Neanderthal groups from Croatia and southern Russia, and the two regional populations diverged from a common ancestor approximately 54,000 years ago.
Modern humans arrived in Europe approximately 47,000 years ago and overlapped temporally with this north-western Neanderthal population. No genetic contribution from modern humans was detected in any of the sequenced north-western Neanderthal genomes.
Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London said the new genomes provide insights into Neanderthal genetic diversity near the time they went physically extinct.
