Very cool reports coming out in Science and Nature about a sequencing Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (with a companion US study) demonstrating that ot is possible to sequence and reconstruct Neanderthal genes from DNA fragments contained in fossil bones. The entire genome should be completed in two years.

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/15/news/gene.php

 

The central questions the researchers hope to answer focus on when and where certain behavioral traits emerged in the hominid lines. About 6 million years ago the hominid line split from the great ape line that gave rise to bonobos an chimps. Much more recently (0.5 million years ago) the line giving rise to modern humans split with that leading to the Neanderthals. If there is a high homology between human and Neanderthal DNA in a key gene known to be instrumental in mediating spoken language, then the conclusion would be that Neanderthals also spoke. If the Neanderthal gene looks more like the chimp version, then they probably had no spoken language.

 

Also of interest will be if there is any evidence of Neanderthal and modern human interbreeding. During 500,000 years of independent evolution, measurable differences in teh two genomes will have accumulated. Presumably the approach to looking at this question will involve looking for evidence of some of the unique Neanderthal sequences showing up in modern humans after they began to co-occur in Europe 45K years ago.

 

It's compelling that Neanderthals were wildly successful throughout Europe for hundreds of thousands of years, and that they then disappeared within a span of 10-15 thousands of years after the arrival of modern humans. Anthropological records show Neanderthals' east-to-west disappearance to be basically in synch with the spread of modern humans across the continent.

 

Dang cool stuff.

yes i read this. Pretty cool how fast they can map genomes now isn't it?

how do they catch the genomes? aren't they tiny and ride around on foxes?

 

how do they catch the genomes? aren't they tiny and ride around on foxes?

 

 

Heh. Heh. Uhm.

 

 

Well, coincidentally, the synctactual language mediating gene they are interested is called the "FoxP2" gene, so I guess you're not so far off, are you.?

 

yes i read this. Pretty cool how fast they can map genomes now isn't it?

 

Amazing, to be sure. Venter changed the face of the science when Celera got involved in the game.