close
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Mar;2(3):E57.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020057. Epub 2004 Mar 16.

No evidence of Neandertal mtDNA contribution to early modern humans

David Serre  1 , André Langaney, Mario Chech, Maria Teschler-Nicola, Maja Paunovic, Philippe Mennecier, Michael Hofreiter, Göran Possnert, Svante Pääbo
Affiliations

No evidence of Neandertal mtDNA contribution to early modern humans

David Serre et al. PLoS Biol. 2004 Mar.

Abstract

The retrieval of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from four Neandertal fossils from Germany, Russia, and Croatia has demonstrated that these individuals carried closely related mtDNAs that are not found among current humans. However, these results do not definitively resolve the question of a possible Neandertal contribution to the gene pool of modern humans since such a contribution might have been erased by genetic drift or by the continuous influx of modern human DNA into the Neandertal gene pool. A further concern is that if some Neandertals carried mtDNA sequences similar to contemporaneous humans, such sequences may be erroneously regarded as modern contaminations when retrieved from fossils. Here we address these issues by the analysis of 24 Neandertal and 40 early modern human remains. The biomolecular preservation of four Neandertals and of five early modern humans was good enough to suggest the preservation of DNA. All four Neandertals yielded mtDNA sequences similar to those previously determined from Neandertal individuals, whereas none of the five early modern humans contained such mtDNA sequences. In combination with current mtDNA data, this excludes any large genetic contribution by Neandertals to early modern humans, but does not rule out the possibility of a smaller contribution.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no conflicts of interest exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Amino Acid Analyses of 64 Hominid Remains
For each bone, the extent of aspartic acid racemization (D/L) and the amino acid concentration (ppm) is given. The dash lines delimit the area of amino acid preservation compatible with DNA retrieval. Circles and triangles represent early modern humans and Neandertals, respectively. The samples from which DNA extractions were performed are green (see also Table S1).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Geographical Origin of Neandertal and Early Modern Human Samples from Which mtDNA Sequences Have Been Analyzed
Filled squares and filled circles represent Neandertal and early modern human remains, respectively, analyzed in this study. The four Neandertal remains formerly analyzed are represented by empty squares.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Sequences Obtained from the Neandertal Remains Using the “Neandertal Primers”
Dots indicate identity to the human reference sequence (Anderson et al. 1981) given above. The four upper DNA sequences were determined in this study. Previously determined DNA sequences are shown below.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Schematic Model of Putative Contribution of Neandertal mtDNA to the Gene Pool of Modern Humans
(A) Under the assumption of a constant effective population size of 10,000 for modern humans, contemporary mtDNAs trace back to approximately five mtDNA lineages 25,000 years ago. The modern human fossils represent five additional samples from around the time of putative admixture (stars). The contemporary and early modern human (EMH) samples reject a Neandertal contribution of 25% or more to modern humans about 30,000 years ago (p ≤ 0.05). (B) Under the more realistic scenario of an expansion of the human population during and after the colonization of Europe, a smaller Neandertal contribution can be excluded because the number of ancestors of the current human gene pool was larger 30,000 years ago. However, the contribution that can be excluded would depend on when and how the expansion occurred. (C) Under the scenario that population size was constant before a putative merging with the Neandertal population and expanded only thereafter, the Neandertal contribution could have been larger, but similarly depends on how the expansion occurred.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abbott A. Anthropologists cast doubt on human DNA evidence. Nature. 2003;423:468. - PubMed
    1. Adcock GJ, Dennis ES, Easteal S, Huttley GA, Jermiin LS, et al. Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient Australians: Implications for modern human origins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001;98:537–542. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anderson S, Bankier AT, Barrell BG, de Bruijn MH, Coulson AR, et al. Sequence and organization of the human mitochondrial genome. Nature. 1981;290:457–465. - PubMed
    1. Cann RL, Stoneking M, Wilson AC. Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature. 1987;325:31–36. - PubMed
    1. Caramelli D, Lalueza-Fox C, Vernesi C, Lari M, Casoli A, et al. Evidence for a genetic discontinuity between Neandertals and 24,000-year-old anatomically modern Europeans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003;100:6593–6597. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types