Comments on: Neanderthal Genome Will Be Released

By: Anne Gilbert

Anne Gilbert — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:41:53 +0000

I don’t know whether or not there was interbreeding between Neandertals and “moderns”(though I think there probably was; remember that at the time they coexisted in Eurasia, both populations were decidedly small). But CyberLizard’s ccomments, as far as I’m concerned, reveal some very modern, and basically Western male, sensibilities. He should ask himself whether or not people back in “them days” really had the same ideas about what constituted good mates, as they do early in the 21st century, in the modern, Western world.
Anne G

By: Azkyroth

Azkyroth — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:51:11 +0000

Despite the remarks made in the Nature coverage about interbreeding, Svante has indicated in previous discussions about this genome that there is nothing to indicate this in the present analysis.

Explain roughly 1/3 of my high school classmates, then.

By: Brian X

Brian X — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:23:18 +0000

So, uh… (ahem) how hard would it be to resequence said genome, implant it into a Homo sapiens embryo, and raise it to adulthood?

(Okay, pretty damn hard, but if the neandertal clone is sufficiently similar to H. sapiens, it should be possible to integrate said individual into human society…)

By: Robert Saunders

Robert Saunders — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:15:01 +0000

Greg – thanks for clarifying – of course it must be a composite of several individuals!

Robert

By: CyberLizard

CyberLizard — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:57:07 +0000

I dunno… I’ve seen recreations of those Neanderthal chicks. Modern Man must have been drinking if there was interbreeding going on. Then again, have you seen West Virginia?

*ducks from the pieces of coal being chucked his direction from the West Virginians *

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:34:28 +0000

The evidence Svante uses is a much larger data set from several indivdiuals.

Whether or not they were separate species is a different question from a) if they interbred back then and b) if any unique alleles from the N population persist today. And no, interbreeding need not indicate the same species (though they for all practical purposes were the same species, more or less).

By: Lilian Nattel

Lilian Nattel — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:33:13 +0000

So when human beings left Africa, there were Neanderthal folks already on other continents. I wonder if they learned anything by observing how those other people survived.

By: Robert Saunders

Robert Saunders — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:27:21 +0000

If this is the first neanderthal genome sequence, I can’t see how they would be able to identify interbreeding with sapiens.
What’s the evidence they were separate species anyway – wouldn’t evidence of interbreeding (if such evidence could be obtained) show they were in fact the same species?

By: James F

James F — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:48:20 +0000

Sweet! I can’t wait to compare some of my favorite genes to their Neanderthal counterparts!