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Neandertal mother, Denisovan father!

Newly-sequenced genome sheds lights on interactions between ancient hominins

Up until 40,000 years ago, at least two groups of hominins inhabited Eurasia – Neandertals in the west and Denisovans in the east. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Leipzig (Germany) sequenced the genome of an ancient hominin individual from Siberia, and discovered that she had a Neandertal mother and a Denisovan father.

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Video

Processing of samples in the ancient DNA laboratory and analysis of the sequencing data generated. (Credit: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

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