title: Targeted retrieval and analysis of five Neandertal mtDNA genomes.
abstract: Analysis of Neandertal DNA holds great potential for investigating the population history of this group of hominins, but progress has been limited due to the rarity of samples and damaged state of the DNA. We present a method of targeted ancient DNA sequence retrieval that greatly reduces sample destruction and sequencing demands and use this method to reconstruct the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of five Neandertals from across their geographic range. We find that mtDNA genetic diversity in Neandertals that lived 38,000 to 70,000 years ago was approximately one-third of that in contemporary modern humans. Together with analyses of mtDNA protein evolution, these data suggest that the long-term effective population size of Neandertals was smaller than that of modern humans and extant great apes.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. briggs@eva.mpg.de
authors.forename: Adrian W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Good
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Tomislav
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maricic
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Stenzel
authors.forename: Carles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lalueza-Fox
authors.forename: Pavao
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rudan
authors.forename: Dejana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brajkovic
authors.forename: Zeljko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kucan
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gusic
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Vladimir B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Doronichev
authors.forename: Liubov V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Golovanova
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de la Rasilla
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fortea
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosas
authors.forename: Svante
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pääbo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D015723:Gene Library; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D005843:Geography; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011156:Population Density; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial