In addition to illuminating how early humans interacted, the Neandertal genome is helping to indicate which parts of the modern human genome separate us from all other creatures. Thus far Pääbo’s group has identified a number of modern human genome regions containing sequence variation that is not seen in Neandertals and that may have helped modern humans adapt. Some of these regions are involved in cognitive development, sperm movement and the physiology of the skin. But exactly how these slight changes to the modern human sequence affected the functioning of these genome regions remains to be determined. Says Pääbo: “This is just the beginning of the exploration of human uniqueness that is now possible.”

This article was originally published with the title Our Inner Neandertal.

2 Comments

1. 1. enigmax 09:54 AM 6/18/10

   I'm not surprised ... I suspected this. So could cro magnon be the offspring of interbreeding?

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2. 2. Jaboz55 07:56 AM 7/2/10

   I am writing a book about the arts and this naturally entailed research into the origins of modern humans. More than 10 years ago I discovered clear evidence of interbreeding between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals. This led me to posit that the Cro-Magnons may have learned the elements of their cave-art from the Neanderthals and that some of the rupestral and cave art attributed to Cro-Magnons may actually be Neanderthal in origin.
   It is still possible to see certain Neanderthal traits in modern humans; e.g, low forehead, prominent eye-brow ridge, broad nose, occipital ridge, squat body, hirsute skin, etc.
   Jaboz55

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