#interbreeding

#interbreeding

Researchers in China have analysed proteins from the tooth enamel of six fossils dating back around 400,000 years five men and one woman found at sites across much of the country from north to south. They were able to recover two proteins, and one of them the M273V variant of the enamel protein ameloblastin is key. The results show that this protein is present in all the fossils analyzed, which belonged to our ancestor Homo erectus.

'Genetic studies over the past decade have shown that these two groups exchanged genes,' said lead author Professor Israel Hershkovitz. 'Even today, 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals disappeared, part of our genome-two to six per cent-is of Neanderthal origin. 'But these gene exchanges took place much later, between 60,000 to 40,000 years ago. Here, we are dealing with a human fossil that is 140,000 years old.