Archaic admixture in human history.
Modern humans evolved in Southern or Eastern Africa, and spread from there across the rest of the world. As they expanded across Africa and Eurasia, they encountered other hominin groups. The extent to which modern and 'archaic' human groups interbred is an area of active research, and while we know that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans, there is not yet agreement on how many admixture events there were or on how much Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA can be found in contemporary genomes. Here we review what is known about archaic admixture in human history, with a focus on what has been discovered in the past 2 years.
Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, United States. Electronic address: wallj@humgen.ucsf.edu.
Jeffrey D
JD
Wall
Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, United States; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States.
Debora
D
Yoshihara Caldeira Brandt
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D000072441:DNA, Ancient / Q000032:analysis*; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000266:history*; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D059125:Neanderthals / Q000235:genetics*
D000072441:DNA, Ancient