https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.09.627480v1
Partitioning the genomic journey to becoming Homo sapiens
Abstract
What makes us human? Homo sapiens diverged
from its ancestors in fundamental ways,
reflected in recent genomic acquisitions
like the PAR2-Y chromosome translocation.
Here we show that despite morphological and
cultural differences between modern and
archaic humans, these human groups share
these recent acquisitions. Our modern
lineage shows recent functional variants
in only 56 genes, of which 24 are linked to
brain functions and skull morphology.
Nevertheless, these acquisitions failed to
introgress into Neanderthals when archaic
and modern populations admixed after 350 kya,
suggesting their exclusive link to the modern
human niche or that Neanderthal’s small
population size hindered their spread. Taken
together, our results point to a scenario
where Modern and Archaic should be regarded
as populations of an otherwise common human
species, which independently accumulated
mutations and cultural innovations.
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