Neanderthal genomes reveal family bonds from 54,000 years ago

[Guno צְבִי]

Earlier this month, the 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Swedish scientist Svante Pääbo for his work sequencing the Neanderthal genome. These ground-breaking DNA advances have helped scientists better understand some of humankind's distant ancestors on an individual level. Still, not much is known about their familial and social structures.

However, scientists have begun to learn a bit about one particular Neanderthal family through DNA. A new study published today in the journal Nature examines the sequenced DNA from 13 Neanderthal individuals: 7 males and 6 females, of which 8 were adults and 5 were children and young adolescents. When analyzing the DNA, the team found that the remains included a Neanderthal father and his teenage daughter and a young boy, as well as an adult female who was possibly a cousin, aunt, or grandmother.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...A139aYf?cvid=e14f579114b249518ffc5fdbae09a88f

 

[Walt]

Earlier this month, the 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Swedish scientist Svante Pääbo for his work sequencing the Neanderthal genome. These ground-breaking DNA advances have helped scientists better understand some of humankind's distant ancestors on an individual level. Still, not much is known about their familial and social structures.

However, scientists have begun to learn a bit about one particular Neanderthal family through DNA. A new study published today in the journal Nature examines the sequenced DNA from 13 Neanderthal individuals: 7 males and 6 females, of which 8 were adults and 5 were children and young adolescents. When analyzing the DNA, the team found that the remains included a Neanderthal father and his teenage daughter and a young boy, as well as an adult female who was possibly a cousin, aunt, or grandmother.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...A139aYf?cvid=e14f579114b249518ffc5fdbae09a88f

When they work out how much inbreeding there was, it will be interesting. Neanderthals sparsely populated Europe, and did not seem to have major gathering sites. They did not seem to have an understanding of trade either. So the question was how they got genetic diversity.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

What a fascinating article. Thanks, Guno, for posting it.