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Women with Neandertal gene give birth to more children

Neandertal progesterone receptor has a favourable effect on fertility

One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals – a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages. This is according to a study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

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© Vadim Guzhva, 123RF Licence