A catalog of single nucleotide changes distinguishing modern humans from archaic hominins

Throughout the past decade, studying ancient genomes has provided unique insights into human prehistory, and differences between modern humans and other branches like Neanderthals can enrich our understanding of the molecular basis of unique modern human traits. Modern human variation and the interactions between different hominin lineages are now well studied, making it reasonable to go beyond fixed genetic changes and explore changes that are observed at high frequency in present-day humans. Here, we identify 571 genes with non-synonymous changes at high frequency. We suggest that molecular mechanisms in cell division and networks affecting cellular features of neurons were prominently modified by these changes. Complex phenotypes in brain growth trajectory and cognitive traits are likely influenced by these networks and other non-coding changes presented here. We propose that at least some of these changes contributed to uniquely human traits, and should be prioritized for experimental validation.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Kuhlwilm, Martin, Boeckx, Cedric
Other Authors:	German Research Foundation
Format:	artículo biblioteca
Published:	Springer Nature 2019-06-11
Subjects:	Evolutionary biology, Evolutionary genetics,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10261/205915 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004837 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002809
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