Neanderthal genome sequencing yields surprising results and opens a new door to futu...( to modern humans is largely inference a...)

to modern humans is largely inference and speculation based on archaeological data and a limited number of hominid remains," the authors state in their Science paper. "In this study, we have demonstrated that Neanderthal genomic sequences can be recovered using a metagenomic library-based approach, and that specific Neanderthal sequences can be obtained from such libraries."

The title of the Science paper is Sequencing and analysis of Neanderthal genomic DNA. Co-authoring the paper with Rubin were James Noonan, Graham Coop, Sridhar Kudaravalli, Doug Smith, Johannes Krause, Joe Alessi, Feng Chen, Darren Platt, Svante Pbo and Jonathan Pritchard.

Said Rubin, "We predict that in the near future anthropologists will be able to develop hypotheses about our extinct ancestors through the scanning of billions of base pairs of DNA sequences available on the web rather than only being able to study the limited number of bony remains and associated artifacts that are available in hard to access museum collections and field sites. Plus, the new techniques we have developed will have useful applications across a range of genomics efforts related to DOE's energy and environment missions"

In the summer of 1856, a partial skeleton of a hominid was found at the Feldhofer Cave in the Neander Valley of Germany. This skeleton would eventually be dubbed the "Neanderthal" man and its discovery generated enormous public curiosity and scientific debate that have continued for the past 150 years.

Starting around 1997, scientists began applying genetic technology to the study of Neanderthals. Research led by Svante Pbo, currently of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, established that Neanderthals were cousins rather than ancestors of modern humans. This research also indicated that humans and Neanderthals broke off into separate species about 500,000 years ago. However, these studies were based on analy
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Contact: Lynn Yarris
lcyarris@lbl.gov
510-486-5375
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
15-Nov-2006

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