How Conteporary Paleogenetics Contributes to Change our Understanding of Origin, Evolution and Migrations of Modern Human Groups
Abstract
Paleogenetics is becoming an increasingly important part of palaeoanthropology and evolutionary anthropology. Research of ancient DNA (a-DNA) allows us to reconstruct the genome of our closest ancestors and relatives, the ancient Homo sapiens, neanderthals, and newly discovered human group - denisovans.
Development of a new methodology, called highthroughput (very complete) sequencing, has been very important for further development of paleogenetics and better use of its results in anthropology. This allowed us constructing better and more complete DNA libraries and their further use in paleogenetic studies.
From the point of view of paleoanthropology, and evolutionary anthropology as well, the following results are the most important ones: The complete mapping of genome of neanderthals, denisovans and anatomically modern humans, which allows us the detail comparison of all the groups examined in terms of econstruction of their possible hybridisations and studying of their genetic admixture and (admixtures) in modern human populations. Most ancient genome was described in the Australian aborigines, which were found to have up to 6 % of the admixtures of the denisovans genome.
On the contrary, the genome of the native Africans was not affected by any other human form. Europeans and Asians have proven to have some of the genes of Neanderthals, Southeast Asians can have some denisovan genes.
Crucial meaning has the archaic Homo sapiens genome reconstruction, which shows that Homo sapiens as a species originated at least 750 thousands of years ago.