The genomic data suggest that Neandertals mixed with modern human ancestors some 120,000 years ago, leaving traces of Ne andertal DNA in contemporary humans, suggesting that gene flow from Neand Bertals into the ancestors of non-Africans occurred before the divergence of Eurasian groups from each other.
A tooth found in Denisova Cave carries a mitochondrial genome highly similar to that of the finger bone, further indicating that Denisovans have an evolutionary history distinct from Neanderthals and modern humans.
The genomic sequence provides evidence for very low rates of heterozygosity in the Denisova, probably not because of recent inbreeding, but instead because of a small population size, and illuminates the relationships between humans and archaics, including Neandertals, and establishes a catalog of genetic changes within the human lineage.
A 38,000-year-old Neanderthal fossil that is exceptionally free of contamination from modern human DNA is identified and it is revealed that modern human and Neanderthal DNA sequences diverged on average about 500,000 years ago.
DNA sequences determined from a Neandertal, a mammoth, and a cave bear show that purines are overrepresented at positions adjacent to the breaks in the ancient DNA, suggesting that depurination has contributed to its degradation.
Molecular dating of the mtDNA divergence times suggests a rapid radiation of bears in both the Old and New Worlds around 5 million years ago, at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, which coincides with major global changes, such as the Messinian crisis and the first opening of the Bering Strait, and suggests a global influence of such events on species radiations.
Targeted sequencing improves Neandertal mitochondrial DNA retrieval and reveals low diversity among individuals, and together with analyses of mtDNA protein evolution, these data suggest that the long-term effective population size of Ne andertals was smaller than that of modern humans and extant great apes.
Functional re-coded TALEs are developed, which not only enable simple one-pot TALE synthesis but also allow TALE-based applications to be performed using lentiviral vectors and a streamlined process to generated seamlessly genome corrected hiPSCs within 3 weeks is demonstrated.
The results demonstrate that Neandertal DNA retains in vivo patterns of CpG methylation, potentially allowing future studies of gene inactivation and imprinting in ancient organisms.