Targeted retrieval and analysis of five Neandertal mtDNA genomes.
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.
Briggs
Adrian W
AW
Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. briggs@eva.mpg.de
Good
Jeffrey M
JM
Green
Richard E
RE
Krause
Johannes
J
Maricic
Tomislav
T
Stenzel
Udo
U
Lalueza-Fox
Carles
C
Rudan
Pavao
P
Brajkovic
Dejana
D
Kucan
Zeljko
Z
Gusic
Ivan
I
Schmitz
Ralf
R
Doronichev
Vladimir B
VB
Golovanova
Liubov V
LV
de la Rasilla
Marco
M
Fortea
Javier
J
Rosas
Antonio
A
Pääbo
Svante
S
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
D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial