A geneticist explains to us how we have a common ancestor with chimpanzees, and a more recent one with Neanderthals. As he put it: “Neanderthals were us!”

photo: Knut Finstermeier and Michael Hofreiter (MPI EVA)

This week, we pick up where we left off last week: someone having the amazing insight to pull out fragments of DNA from deep inside a hominid bone and sequencing the genetic material.

Genetics provide a powerful tool to explore our evolutionary origins. We talked about how comparisons made between DNA samples from living humans and living great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans) clearly show that we have a common ancestor. Our own species diverged from theirs several million years ago. The data are just undeniable.

One of the most compelling findings for me has been what we’ve learned about one of our chromosomes. It turns out that we humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, but all the great apes have 24. That shocked scientists for decades: how could we have descended from a common ancestor and lost a whole chromosome in the process: that’s a lot of genetic information thrown away! But when we looked more closely, we found out that one of our chromosomes is a head-to-head fusion of two smaller chromosomes … kind of like Siamese twins. No information lost; but a first-step toward genetic isolation (another word for speciation).

Another line of evidence is that we humans have the exact same genetic scars of ancient viral infections.

But the recently discovered approach of pulling out DNA from ancient hominid bones now allows us to explore a much higher (more recent) part of the family tree: the smaller branches that appeared only during the last few hundred thousand years. This is where we find Neanderthals, Denisovans, and H. floresiensis (aka: “Hobbit Man”). We also learned that … well … how do I put this? … that we’ve been having sex with them all through that evolutionary trajectory!? Chances are that a few percent of your DNA came from a Neanderthal! If we have their DNA in us, that means they were our ancestors, not our cousins! As Adam put it: “Neanderthals were us!”

As always, tell us what you think …

To find more about Dr. Adam Rutherford, go to his faculty page or his personal website.

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