High coverage genomic sequence for a Denisovan individual.

We present a DNA library preparation method that has allowed us to reconstruct the first high coverage (30X) genome sequence of a Denisovan, an extinct relative of Neandertals. The quality of this sequence allows a direct estimation of Denisovan heterozygosity indicating extremely low genetic diversity in these archaic hominins. It also allows the generation of a near-complete catalog of genetic changes that swept to high frequency in modern humans during the last few hundred thousand years, detailed measurement of Denisovan and Neandertal admixture into present-day human populations revealing reduced archaic introgression on the X chromosome, and direct dating of the specimen to 74-82,000 years on the basis of the "missing evolution" in its genome.