Cox counters that the lone African’s RRM2P4 sequence is identical to the Asian group, suggesting that this person probably descended from recent Asian immigrants. The team also has preliminary data on a second DNA region that shows an equally ancient split, where one group seems to be exclusively Asian.

No one gene can settle the matter, says geneticist Rosalind Harding of the University of Oxford. Nevertheless, several studies suggest that the human genome records some strikingly deep splits between populations. Her group, for example, has found that part of the gene for hemoglobin seems very old. If discoveries of ancient sequences continue to stack up, archaeogeneticists might eventually be convinced that we all have a little erectus in our blood.

This article was originally published with the title Lovers, Not Fighters?.

1 Comments

1. 1. MarekZ 02:08 PM 2/24/08

   Making love with your ancestor is rather difficult, as anybody trying to seduce his/her geat-grandparent would attest. Also we do have traces of all (or most) species past in our genes.
   Moreover, in orthodox definition of the species, interbreeding is required within, but not without. If Homo sapiens did in fact interbreed with Homo erectus, it would simply mean that they are genetically very close, not different species at all. And here come all interesting questions - why do they appear they different, what caused the separation if they all lived in Africa etc. Discussing such implications of this discovery would be very interesing, as it would suggest breaking our current classification of the Homo genus

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