A new study suggests that interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans may have followed a specific pattern. The research points to a greater frequency of matings between Neanderthal men and Homo sapiens women, a dynamic that could help explain some particularities of current human DNA.
In 2010, scientists sequenced the Neanderthal genome from DNA, an important study that confirmed that and the they actually crossed paths.
Most people alive today carry some residual DNA fragments from this extinct species, inherited from interbreeding between the two.
Investigations indicate that Both groups descend from a population that settled in Africa a few million years ago.
Over hundreds of millennia, human migrations led to interbreeding between the two groups.
X chromosome
However, modern humans have little or no Neanderthal DNA on their X chromosomeone of the two human chromosomes that determine the sex of the fetus.
The team analyzed modern human DNA preserved in a Neanderthal and found that it was particularly abundant on the X chromosome, exactly the opposite of what is seen in humans.
This discovery made it possible to rule out the idea of ​​reproductive incompatibility between species.
On the contrary, gene flow “occurred primarily between Neanderthal males and anatomically modern human females”explained principal investigator of the study.
Considering that females have two X chromosomes and males only one, If Neanderthal males and modern human females mated more frequently, more human X chromosomes would enter the Neanderthal gene pool and fewer Neanderthal X chromosomes would end up in human populations.
Other possible reasons
Other reasons could be offered, but these ancient mating practices “provide the simplest explanation”, he highlighted. Alexander Platt.
Regarding the reason, the researcher pointed out that the Neanderthal men and human women may have established relationships by choice, violence, or coercion.
Researchers now hope to analyze the reasons that could help better understand how this mating pattern developed.
Possibilities include the dynamics between men and women in Neanderthal society or migratory patterns.
It is possible, for example, that men were more likely to leave their communities while women remained with their families.
