And A wise man Humans are the only species roaming the earth today, others have coexisted in the past, such as the Neanderthals, whose traces we find in Eurasian populations. According to a new study, another human species, still little known, also left its mark on our DNA: across the Asian continent, Denisovan populations passed their genes to our ancestors on several occasions. have done
History ofA wise manAlso known as “modern man”, the early hominid population originated in Africa about 300,000 years ago. Over thousands of years, A wise man Gradually spread beyond the African continent, slowly colonizing the Asian and European continents as well as other parts of the world. Their cultural and technological progress was marked by innovations such as the use of feufeuTool making and use, art, and later agriculture.
A non-linear story
The A wise man Today there are only representatives of the genus Homo. However, many other species of the genus Homo existed in the past, and influenced the history of modern humans.
According to the fossil record, Homo appeared in Africa about 2.8 million years ago. At that time it was represented by two species, A working manA working man etc Homo rudolphusearlier species that have not yet been identified by scientists. Since its emergence, the genus Homo has produced a diversity of species, mainly due to its geographical distribution and its evolution in different environments.
One of the most famous of these species, and also the most studied due to its links with modern humans. Homo neanderthalensis (or Neanderthal man). This species, which appeared 400,000 years ago, became extinct only 30,000 years ago, and therefore coexisted for several hundred thousand years. A wise man. If the idea that humans evolved spontaneously and independently common ancestorcommon ancestor Broad enough, it is nevertheless false: in 2010, the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome by German scientists made it possible to show thatHomo neanderthalensis is estimated to have contributed about 2% of the modern non-African human population genome. Crossing, or HybridizationHybridizationso happened many times between these two species of hominids.
While the existence of Neanderthals has been known for centuries, another species of hominids was discovered by archaeologists about twenty years ago.ADNADN of a piece of The phalanxThe phalanx Excavation in a Siberian cave: it is. The man who died.or “Densova Man”.
Multiple crosses with different species?
If we now know, thanks to DNA analyses, that Denisovan man appeared from a divergence about 400,000 years ago. geneticgenetic with the man of NeanderthalNeanderthalthe limited number of fossil specimens hinders our understanding of this newly discovered species. however, GeneticistsGeneticists from the University of Dublin was able to carry out a genetic analysis, the results of which were published in the journal Nature Geneticsare clear: scientists have identified at least three events in the past through which GenoaGenoa Different Denisovan populations have infiltrated the genetic signatures of modern humans.
In this way, the team of scientists was able to show that certain genes of some modern human populations were directly derived. The genomeThe genome Denisovans: They cite, for example, common sequences in the Tibetan population that help the body cope with low levels of oxygen, or even genes found in Inuit lineages that affect it. . CombustionCombustion Fat to better cope with the cold. These genes are in addition to the various genes that were exchanged during frequent interactions with Neanderthals, which, among other things, gave us resistanceresistance To Epidemic diseasesEpidemic diseasesand even shaped our brains.
It thus appears that modern humans co-evolved with other species of hominids, with numerous inter-species crossings. Scientists now hope to learn more about this mysterious, recently discovered hominid… and the incredibly complex history of our own species.
