Neanderthals and modern people have a common, deeply interwoven history. We separated from a common ancestor about 700,000 years ago. Then * homo sapiens * and Neanderthals lived separately, at some time met again and were together until 40,000 years ago the Neanderthals finally died out. Despite this, some of them still live in our DNA. Why did this happen?
During coexistence side by side Neanderthals in one way or another crossed with the early representatives of * homo sapiens * and the descendants of these crossings were quite viable, as our species is very close. According to scientists, 2% of our DNA came from Neanderthals. In 2017 Cell magazine published an article in which it is told that this negligible percentage of DNA can influence how active our genes are. This study proves that interspecies crossing, which took place in antiquity, affects the state of your body in modern times.
Since scientists have isolated the genes of the Neanderthals from their remains, we know that we have acquired some genes from them. Some of them are related to growth and to how well our immune system works. Others carry the risk of diseases such as schizophrenia and lupus. Different people may have different genes, the most important is how these genes manifest themselves. For example, if a gene manifests itself actively, then it creates a lot of RNA, which means significantly more proteins. In other words, if the remains of Neanderthal DNA in our genome change how your genes manifest themselves, this can be very significant for your health.
Genetics at the University of Washington have measured RNA levels in different tissues in more than 200 people who have the remains of Neanderthal DNA. They studied more than 5000 components of their genome, in which there were both Neanderthal genes inherited from one of the parents and the genes of modern man. These two versions of the gene in genetics are called alleles. The purpose of this study was to understand which of these genes are showing themselves more actively. It turned out that in one case four of the Neanderthal genes showed themselves much more actively.
Scientists from Montreal have found evidence that the DNA of Neanderthals affects the immune and nervous system of modern humans. Geneticists have noticed something else: in some situations, the genes of the Neanderthals showed themselves more, and in some cases less than the genes of the modern man, but in general the activity of both kinds of genes was balanced. When scientists began to compare the behavior of genes in different tissues, they saw that not everything is so unambiguous. In the brain and testis tissues, the genes of the Neanderthals manifested themselves less actively. Most of all scientists interested in the brain, because it is under the influence of the genome of Neanderthals in him that a gene is produced that reduces the risk of schizophrenia.
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