Abstract
Southern blot hybridizations of genomic DNA were introduced as a relatively simple fossil-DNA-based approach to classify remains of Neanderthals. When hybridized with genomic DNA of either human or Neanderthal origin, DNA extracted from two Neanderthal finds-the Os parietale, from Warendorf-Neuwarendorf, Germany, and a clavicula, from Krapina, Croatia-was shown to yield hybridization signals that differ by at least a factor of two compared to the signals obtained with the use of fossil DNA of an early Homo sapiens from the Vogelherd cave (Stetten I), Germany. When labeled chimpanzee DNA was used as a probe, Neanderthal and human DNA, however, revealed hybridization signals of similar intensity. Thus, the genome of Neanderthals is expected to differ significantly from the genome of anatomically modern man, because of the contrasting composition of repetitive DNA. These data support the hypothesis that Neanderthals were not ancestors of anatomically modern man.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (290.7 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Abbate E., Albianelli A., Azzaroli A., Benvenuti M., Tesfamariam B., Bruni P., Cipriani N., Clarke R. J., Ficcarelli G., Macchiarelli R. A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the Danakil (Afar) Depression of Eritrea. Nature. 1998 Jun 4;393(6684):458–460. doi: 10.1038/30954. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cooper A., Poinar H. N., Päbo S., Radovcić J., Debénath A., Caparros M., Barroso-Ruiz C., Bertranpetit J., Nielsen-Marsh C., Hedges R. E. Neandertal genetics. Science. 1997 Aug 22;277(5329):1021–1024. doi: 10.1126/science.277.5329.1021b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Krings M., Geisert H., Schmitz R. W., Krainitzki H., Päbo S. DNA sequence of the mitochondrial hypervariable region II from the neandertal type specimen. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 May 11;96(10):5581–5585. doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.10.5581. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Krings M., Stone A., Schmitz R. W., Krainitzki H., Stoneking M., Päbo S. Neandertal DNA sequences and the origin of modern humans. Cell. 1997 Jul 11;90(1):19–30. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80310-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lang F. SWISS-PROT + TREMBL. Trends Genet. 1997 Oct;13(10):417–417. doi: 10.1016/s0168-9525(97)01258-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lindahl T. Facts and artifacts of ancient DNA. Cell. 1997 Jul 11;90(1):1–3. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80306-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Miyamoto M. M., Koop B. F., Slightom J. L., Goodman M., Tennant M. R. Molecular systematics of higher primates: genealogical relations and classification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Oct;85(20):7627–7631. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.20.7627. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Poinar H. N., Höss M., Bada J. L., Päbo S. Amino acid racemization and the preservation of ancient DNA. Science. 1996 May 10;272(5263):864–866. doi: 10.1126/science.272.5263.864. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pusch C. M., Giddings I., Scholz M. Repair of degraded duplex DNA from prehistoric samples using Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I and T4 DNA ligase. Nucleic Acids Res. 1998 Feb 1;26(3):857–859. doi: 10.1093/nar/26.3.857. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Royle N. J., Baird D. M., Jeffreys A. J. A subterminal satellite located adjacent to telomeres in chimpanzees is absent from the human genome. Nat Genet. 1994 Jan;6(1):52–56. doi: 10.1038/ng0194-52. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schwartz J. H., Tattersall I. Significance of some previously unrecognized apomorphies in the nasal region of Homo neanderthalensis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Oct 1;93(20):10852–10854. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.20.10852. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Takahata N., Satta Y., Klein J. Divergence time and population size in the lineage leading to modern humans. Theor Popul Biol. 1995 Oct;48(2):198–221. doi: 10.1006/tpbi.1995.1026. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]