In Neanderthal DNA, Signs of a Mysterious Human Migration
Years ago, Dr. Krause and his colleagues started their search for ancient Neanderthal genes in a fossil by looking for mitochondrial DNA.
“You could have just walked out.”
In a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, Dr. Krause and his colleagues report
that Africans did indeed walk out — over 270,000 years ago.
After years of investigation, however, Dr. Krause still did not understand why the nuclear DNA
and mitochondrial DNA of Neanderthals seemed to have different histories.
The 430,000-year-old fossils at Sima de los Huesos — Neanderthals with Denisovanlike genes — capture the early stage of that split.
