A new genetic analysis reveals that modern Africans have some Neandertal DNA
Africans today possess Neandertal ancestry that has gone unnoticed until now, scientists say. People who migrated out of Africa around 60,000 to 80,000 years ago interbred with Neandertals. That set the stage for some human groups to return to Africa carrying Neandertal genes that spread throughout the continent, apparently because those genes proved beneficial to ancient Africans, researchers report January 30 in Cell. Sets of Neandertal gene variants inherited by modern Africans include genes involved in bolstering the immune system and modifying sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation, geneticist Joshua Akey of Princeton University and his colleagues found. Those genes presumably spread quickly once introduced to African humans. A new statistical approach for detecting ancient genetic material that’s still present in modern DNA, developed by Akey’s team, enabled this discovery. The researchers’ new technique also detected a human journey out of Africa roughly 100,000 to 150,000 years ago that led to the introduction of human genes into Neandertals via interbreeding. Some African DNA that appeared at first to...