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Gene Expression in Archaic Humans Study Lights Path towards Modern Homo sapiens
Neanderthal skull [Halamka/Getty Images]
April 28, 2021
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Researchers at Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have devised a new method to harvest more information from the genomes of archaic humans, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, to potentially reveal the physical consequences of genomic differences between us and them. The team published its study (“The
eLife, focused on sequences related to gene expression.
“The Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes enabled the discovery of sequences that differ between modern and archaic humans, the majority of which are noncoding. However, our understanding of the regulatory consequences of these differences remains limited, in part due to the decay of regulatory marks in ancient samples. Here, we used a massively parallel reporter assay in embryonic stem cells, neural progenitor cells, and bone osteoblasts to investigate
Date Time
Study dives deeper into genetic differences between modern and archaic humans
Researchers examined 14,000 genetic differences between modern humans and our most recent ancestors at a new level of detail. They found that differences in gene activation – not just genetic code – could underlie evolution of the brain and vocal tract. By Taylor Kubota
A genome by itself is like a recipe without a chef – full of important information, but in need of interpretation. So, even though we have sequenced genomes of our nearest extinct relatives – the Neanderthals and the Denisovans – there remain many unknowns regarding how differences in our genomes actually lead to differences in physical traits.
Stanford University
A genome by itself is like a recipe without a chef – full of important information, but in need of interpretation. So, even though we have sequenced genomes of our nearest extinct relatives – the Neanderthals and the Denisovans – there remain many unknowns regarding how differences in our genomes actually lead to differences in physical traits.
“When we’re looking at archaic genomes, we don’t have all the layers and marks that we usually have in samples from present-day individuals that help us interpret regulation in the genome, like RNA or cell structure,” said David Gokhman, a postdoctoral fellow in biology at Stanford University.
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A genome by itself is like a recipe without a chef - full of important information, but in need of interpretation. So, even though we have sequenced genomes of our nearest extinct relatives - the Neanderthals and the Denisovans - there remain many unknowns regarding how differences in our genomes actually lead to differences in physical traits. When we re looking at archaic genomes, we don t have all the layers and marks that we usually have in samples from present-day individuals that help us interpret regulation in the genome, like RNA or cell structure, said David Gokhman, a postdoctoral fellow in biology at Stanford University.