Ancient gene flow from modern humans into Siberian Neanderthals

It has been shown that Neandertals contributed genetically to modern humans outside Africa approximately 47,000-65,000 years ago. Here, we analyze the genomes of a Neandertal and Denisovan from the Altai Mountains in Siberia together with the sequences of chromosome 21 of two Neandertals from Spain and Croatia. We find that a modern human population more than 100,000 years ago contributed genetically to the ancestors of Neandertals from the Altai Mountains. By contrast, we do not detect such a genetic contribution in the Denisovan or the two European Neandertals. We conclude that in addition to later interbreeding events, the ancestors of Neandertals from the Altai Mountains and modern humans met and interbred, possibly in the Near East, many thousands of years earlier than previously reported.

已有研究证实，约4.7万至6.5万年前，尼安德特人（Neandertal）曾向非洲以外的现代人类传递遗传物质。本研究对西伯利亚阿尔泰山脉出土的1例尼安德特人与1例丹尼索瓦人（Denisovan）的全基因组，以及西班牙、克罗地亚各1例尼安德特人的21号染色体序列进行了分析。研究发现，早在10万年前的一支现代人类种群，曾向阿尔泰山脉尼安德特人的祖先传递遗传物质。与之相比，在丹尼索瓦人以及这两例欧洲尼安德特人中，并未检测到此类遗传物质传递事件。综上，除后续的基因交流事件外，阿尔泰山脉尼安德特人的祖先与现代人类曾相遇并发生基因交流，该事件或发生于近东地区，时间较此前报道的结果早数万年。