Paleogenomics of Archaic Hominins

Paleogenomics of Archaic Hominins

In order to understand the genetic basis for the evolutionary success of modern humans, it is necessary to compare their genetic makeup to that of closely related species. Unfortunately, our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, are evolutionarily quite distant. With the advent of ancient DNA study and more recently paleogenomics - the study of the genomes of ancient organisms - it has bec...

Human Evolution: Genomic Gifts from Archaic Hominins

The dispersal of humans throughout the world was accompanied by adaptations to local environments. New research shows that a previously identified haplotype of the EPAS1 gene, which allows Tibetans to live at high altitude, was inherited from archaic hominin ancestors.

The projection of a test genome onto a reference population and applications to humans and archaic hominins.

We introduce a method for comparing a test genome with numerous genomes from a reference population. Sites in the test genome are given a weight, w, that depends on the allele frequency, x, in the reference population. The projection of the test genome onto the reference population is the average weight for each x, [Formula: see text]. The weight is assigned in such a way that, if the test geno...

Paleogenomics, hominin interbreeding and language evolution.

Analysis of Megadontia in Hominins

Introduction Hominin teeth are important for telling us about the dietary strategy of these extinct species. In particular, the degree of megadontia allows inferences into how mechanically demanding a diet was. Extremely large molars with molarized premolars are an indication of an extremely demanding diet, consisting of hard objects. In contrast, small molars in comparison to the incisors indi...