Les origines de l'humanité

[Adrian]

Oldest modern human genomes sequenced

 

Citation

Few genomes have been sequenced from early modern humans, who first arrived in Europe when the region was already inhabited by Neandertals. An international team led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has now sequenced the oldest modern human genomes to date. The genomes were recovered from seven individuals who lived between 42,000 and 49,000 years ago in Ranis, Germany and Zlatý kůň, Czechia. These genomes belonged to individuals who were part of a small, closely related human group that first split off from the population that left Africa around 50,000 years ago and later settled the rest of the world. Although they separated early, the Neandertal DNA in their genomes traces back to an admixture event common to all people outside Africa, that the researchers date to around 45,000-49,000 years ago, much later than previously thought.

 

After modern humans left Africa, they met and interbred with Neandertals, resulting in around two to three percent Neandertal DNA that can be found in the genomes of all people outside Africa today. However, little is known about the genetics of these first pioneers in Europe and the timing of the Neandertal admixture with non-Africans.

 

A key site in Europe is Zlatý kůň in Czechia, where a complete skull from a single individual who lived around 45,000 years ago was discovered and previously genetically analyzed

 

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Among the six individuals from Ranis, one bone was particularly well preserved, in fact it is the best preserved modern human bone from the Pleistocene for DNA retrieval. This allowed the team to obtain a high-quality genome from this male individual, referred to as Ranis13. Together, the Ranis13 and Zlatý kůň genomes represent the oldest high-quality modern human genomes sequenced to date. When analyzing genetic variants related to phenotypic traits, they found that Ranis and Zlatý kůň individuals carried variants associated with dark skin and hair color as well as brown eyes, reflecting the recent African origin of this early European population. 

 

By analyzing the segments inherited from the same ancestor in the Ranis and Zlatý kůň genomes, the researchers estimate that their population consisted of at most a few hundred individuals who may have been spread out over a larger territory. The authors found no evidence that this small early modern human population contributed to later Europeans or any other world-wide population.