Smithsonian Institution
A “mysterious population” of ancestors gave us 20% of DNA increased our brain function. The new genetic model suggests that the ancestors of modern humans came from two distinct populations that divided and once again bound during evolutionary history.
So far, the evidence have suggested that Homo sapiens descend from a single lineage. But there may be a hidden chapter…
A study this Tuesday in Nature Genetics revealed that the ancestor of all modern humans (Homo sapiens) separated from a mysterious population 1.5 million years ago and once again bound it 300,000 years ago, according to a New genetic model.
The unknown population will have contributed 20% of our DNA and will have driven the brain function of humans.
The investigators team analyzed genomes of modern humans instead of old DNA. With an advanced algorithm, they modeled how human populations divided and re-united, explains the magazine.
As explained by, the investigation presents a new method of model model modeling, called cobraathat allowed to trace the evolution of modern humans.
From then on, the researchers found that they existed two main ancestral groups that were divided about 1.5 million years agowhich they called population and population B.
Shortly after this separation, the population suffered a strangulation when the population fell to the pike and probably lost a significant amount of genetic diversity. Still, it grew over time, and the Neanderthals and the Denisovans branched from it.
Then, as the new genetic analysis suggests, about 300,000 years ago, the population to have been mixed with the population B.
Proof of this is the fact that 80% of the genome of all current humans come from the population, while 20% of our genome comes from population B – With highlight for the genes related to brain function and neural processing
These genes from population B, according to the co -author of the study Trevor Cousinsfrom the University of Cambridge, “may have played a crucial role in human evolution.”
Cited by Live Science, the investigators report that “several populations of Man alert e Man Heidelbergensis are potential candidates Lineages A and B – having existed in both Africa and other places in the relevant period ”.
Until then, they continue to be called mysterious populations. “For now, We can only speculate“Cousins warns.
