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Out of the veil of death rode the one million! Neandertals and their genes
Author(s) -
Weiss Kenneth M.,
Smith Fred H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.20535
Subject(s) - sequence (biology) , genealogy , biology , evolutionary biology , perspective (graphical) , genome , gene , genetics , history , computer science , artificial intelligence
Two recent papers1,2 report extensive nuclear DNA sequence from a 38,000‐year‐old Neandertal fossil, comparing it to modern humans and estimating when it diverged from, and whether it contributed to, our gene pool. Based on 65,250 and over a million base‐pairs of sequence across the genome, respectively, the groups arrived at slightly different interpretations. The data are an exciting and interesting new contribution, but are not surprising, and a sense of history and question helps put them in perspective. BioEssays 29: 105–110, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.