A view of Neandertal genetic diversity (original) (raw)

Nature Genetics volume 26, pages 144–146 (2000)Cite this article

The retrieval of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from the Neandertal type specimen from Feldhofer Cave in western Germany1,2 made possible a comparison of DNA sequences from an extinct hominid with those from modern humans. Recently, a second mtDNA sequence from a Neandertal child found in Mezmaiskaya Cave in the northern Caucasus was determined and found to be similar to the type specimen3. To further study the Neandertal mtDNA gene pool, we analysed the amino acid composition and extent of amino acid racemization in 15 Neandertal bones found in the G3 layer4,5 in Vindija Cave, Croatia.

Seven samples proved to have a high content of amino acids, an amino acid composition similar to that of contemporary bone, and a low level of racemization of aspartic acid, alanine and leucine6, all features compatible with DNA preservation7. We dated one of the samples (Vi-75-G3/h-203; ref. 5) by accelerator mass spectroscopy to over 42,000 years before present (Ua-13873) and used it for five DNA extractions. In three of the extractions, we included N-phenacylthiazolium bromide (PTB), a compound that has been shown to improve DNA retrieval from late Pleistocene coprolites, probably due to its ability to cleave sugar-derived condensation products in which DNA may be entrapped8.

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Figure 1: Schematic phylogenetic tree of 2 Neandertal mtDNA and 663 contemporary humans

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Poinar for discussions and synthesis of PTB; C. Färber and S. Gross for technical support; W. Schartau for primer synthesis; J. Bark and P. Gill for experimental help; K. Strimmer and F. Burckhardt for help with databases and computer programs; A. Greenwood, J. Hey, S. Hornung, M. Stoneking, L. Vigilant and D. Serre for help and discussions; and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Max Planck Gesellschaft for financial support.

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Author notes

  1. Frank Tschentscher
    Present address: Institute for Human Genetics, University Clinic, Essen, Germany
  2. Matthias Krings, Cristian Capelli and Frank Tschentscher: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
    Matthias Krings, Sonja Meyer, Arndt von Haeseler & Svante Pääbo
  2. Institute of Legal Medicine, Catholic University of S. Cuore, Rome, Italy
    Cristian Capelli
  3. Institute of Zoology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany
    Helga Geisert
  4. Institute for Histology and Embryology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
    Karl Grossschmidt
  5. Division of Ion Physics, Ångström Laboratory, P.O. Box 534, Uppsala, Sweden
    Göran Possnert
  6. Institute of Quaternary Paleontology and Geology of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, A. Kovacica 5/II, Zagreb, Croatia
    Maja Paunovic

Authors

  1. Matthias Krings
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  2. Cristian Capelli
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  3. Frank Tschentscher
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  4. Helga Geisert
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  5. Sonja Meyer
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  6. Arndt von Haeseler
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  7. Karl Grossschmidt
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  8. Göran Possnert
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  9. Maja Paunovic
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  10. Svante Pääbo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence toSvante Pääbo.

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Krings, M., Capelli, C., Tschentscher, F. et al. A view of Neandertal genetic diversity.Nat Genet 26, 144–146 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/79855

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