title: Analysis of one million base pairs of Neanderthal DNA.
abstract: Neanderthals are the extinct hominid group most closely related to contemporary humans, so their genome offers a unique opportunity to identify genetic changes specific to anatomically fully modern humans. We have identified a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal fossil that is exceptionally free of contamination from modern human DNA. Direct high-throughput sequencing of a DNA extract from this fossil has thus far yielded over one million base pairs of hominoid nuclear DNA sequences. Comparison with the human and chimpanzee genomes reveals that modern human and Neanderthal DNA sequences diverged on average about 500,000 years ago. Existing technology and fossil resources are now sufficient to initiate a Neanderthal genome-sequencing effort.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. green@eva.mpg.de
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ptak
authors.forename: Adrian W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ronan
authors.forename: Jan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egholm
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rothberg
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paunovic
authors.forename: Svante
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pääbo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011156:Population Density; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004247:DNA