Scientists have discovered traces of an unknown extinct species in human DNA.
An international group of geneticists has developed the TRACE method, which allowed the detection of traces of an unknown extinct species of ancient humans in the DNA of modern people. The results of the study were published in the journal Science.
The authors of the work note that traditional studies are limited by the lack of ancient remains suitable for DNA extraction. This is especially true for populations that lived in warm climates, where genetic material is practically not preserved.
The new method does not require ancient samples. Instead, TRACE analyzes so-called ancestral recombination graphs—evolutionary diagrams showing how individual segments of DNA were passed down from generation to generation over hundreds of thousands of years.
Tests of the algorithm on data from the international "1000 Genomes" project showed that, in addition to already known Neanderthal and Denisovan genetic fragments, there is another group of ancient segments in the genomes of people, the origin of which has not yet been established.
According to researchers, this "ghostly" admixture is found in all studied populations—both among residents of Africa and among populations of Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Its share is approximately 0.5% to 1.1% of the genome of each person.
Statistical analysis showed that the unknown lineage separated from the ancestors of modern humans about 830,000 years ago, and the mixing occurred even before Homo sapiens left Africa.
Moreover, TRACE discovered even older genetic fragments in the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Santa Cruz Islands. According to the authors of the study, they may have reached modern humans through Denisovans, who presumably previously interbred with an even older population. As a possible candidate, scientists mention Homo erectus, but emphasize that there is currently no direct evidence for this.
Researchers believe that the new technology will allow the study of the earliest stages of human evolution even in cases where fossil DNA has not been preserved. In their opinion, the history of human origins turned out to be significantly more complex than previously thought, and included numerous episodes of mixing different species of ancient humans.
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Scientists have discovered traces of an unknown extinct species in human DNA.
An international group of researchers has stated that traces of an unknown population of ancient hominins have been preserved in the genomes of modern humans, a population that was previously unknown. The scientists reached this conclusion using a new method of DNA analysis.