A catalog of single nucleotide changes distinguishing modern humans from archaic hominins

Throughout the past decade, studying ancient genomes has provided unique insights into human prehistory, and differences between modern humans and other branches like Neanderthals can enrich our understanding of the molecular basis of unique modern human traits. Modern human variation and the intera...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Kuhlwilm, Martin, Boeckx, Cedric
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/45131
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45131
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44877-x
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Evolutionary biology
Evolutionary genetics
Descrição
Resumo:Throughout the past decade, studying ancient genomes has provided unique insights into human prehistory, and differences between modern humans and other branches like Neanderthals can enrich our understanding of the molecular basis of unique modern human traits. Modern human variation and the interactions between different hominin lineages are now well studied, making it reasonable to go beyond fixed genetic changes and explore changes that are observed at high frequency in present-day humans. Here, we identify 571 genes with non-synonymous changes at high frequency. We suggest that molecular mechanisms in cell division and networks affecting cellular features of neurons were prominently modified by these changes. Complex phenotypes in brain growth trajectory and cognitive traits are likely influenced by these networks and other non-coding changes presented here. We propose that at least some of these changes contributed to uniquely human traits, and should be prioritized for experimental validation.