title: Partial genetic turnover in neandertals: continuity in the East and population replacement in the West.
abstract: Remarkably little is known about the population-level processes leading up to the extinction of the neandertal. To examine this, we use mitochondrial DNA sequences from 13 neandertal individuals, including a novel sequence from northern Spain, to examine neandertal demographic history. Our analyses indicate that recent western European neandertals (<48 kyr) constitute a tightly defined group with low mitochondrial genetic variation in comparison with both eastern and older (>48 kyr) European neandertals. Using control region sequences, Bayesian demographic simulations provide higher support for a model of population fragmentation followed by separate demographic trajectories in subpopulations over a null model of a single stable population. The most parsimonious explanation for these results is that of a population turnover in western Europe during early Marine Isotope Stage 3, predating the arrival of anatomically modern humans in the region.
authors.forename: Love
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dalén
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orlando
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brandström-Durling
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quam
authors.forename: M Thomas P
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: J Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Díez Fernández-Lomana
authors.forename: Eske
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Willerslev
authors.forename: Juan Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arsuaga
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Götherström
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D059125:Neanderthals / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics*; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics
chemical_list: D009711:Nucleotides