The details of human evolution grows through discoveries and genetics

[shunyadragon]

The details of the diversity and evolution of our evolution increases over time with more discoveries and advances in genetics.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51508616

'Ghost' human ancestor discovered in West Africa

A mysterious "ghost population" of now-extinct ancient human-like creatures may have interbred with early humans living in West Africa, scientists say.

Researchers suggest DNA from this group makes up between 2% and 19% of modern West Africans' genetic ancestry.

They believe the interbreeding occurred about 43,000 years ago.

Scientists found links to the Mende people of Sierra Leone, Yoruba as well as Esan people in Nigeria, plus other groups in western areas of The Gambia.

The new study was published in Science Advances this week.

It suggests that ancestors of modern West Africans interbred with a yet-undiscovered species of archaic human, similar to how ancient Europeans mated with Neanderthals, and Oceanic populations with Denisovans.

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The research sheds more light on how archaic hominins added to the genetic variation of present-day Africans, which has been poorly understood even though it is the most genetically diverse continent.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago there were several different groups of humans including modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans.

The newly-discovered "ghost population" of ancient human species seems likely to have diverged from these groups.

Sriram Sankararaman - the computational biologist who led the research at the University of California in Los Angeles - told BBC Newsday he believed more such groups would be found in the future.

His team looked at the genetic make-up of West Africans and found that some of their DNA came from an ancient unexplained source.

"As we get more data from diverse populations - and better quality data - our ability to sift through that data and excavate these ghost populations is going to get better," Mr Sankararaman said.

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[rogue06]

The full paper Recovering signals of ghost archaic introgression in African populations can be read HERE

The Abstract from the paper:

While introgression from Neanderthals and Denisovans has been documented in modern humans outside Africa, the contribution of archaic hominins to the genetic variation of present-day Africans remains poorly understood. We provide complementary lines of evidence for archaic introgression into four West African populations. Our analyses of site frequency spectra indicate that these populations derive 2 to 19% of their genetic ancestry from an archaic population that diverged before the split of Neanderthals and modern humans. Using a method that can identify segments of archaic ancestry without the need for reference archaic genomes, we built genome-wide maps of archaic ancestry in the Yoruba and the Mende populations. Analyses of these maps reveal segments of archaic ancestry at high frequency in these populations that represent potential targets of adaptive introgression. Our results reveal the substantial contribution of archaic ancestry in shaping the gene pool of present-day West African populations.

And from The Scientist:

Source: Remnants of Extinct Hominin Species Found in West African Genomes

A study points to the existence of an ancient human relative that interbred with Homo sapiens.New York Times notes that one candidate for the ghost species is a hominin for which a skull was discovered in 2011 in Nigeria. But researchers have not yet succeeded in extracting and sequencing DNA from that fossil, or from others found in Africa that are thought to be from now-extinct hominins.


Source

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[shunyadragon]

A new discovery about the Australopithecus show more evidence of the evolution of earlier primates and later primates that lead to human evolution. This diversity of subspecies and varieties of the widespread adaptation Australpithecus is already known that lead to the evolution of humans. This discovery shows this variation of Australpithecus lived partially in trees.

Source: https://www.9news.com.au/world/little-foot-australopithecus-lived-in-trees-was-vegetarian-say-researchers/921c0d91-196e-4c0e-a6ba-f5bb53a7c5e8

Ancient human ancestor probably lived in trees

© Copyright Original Source

[rogue06]

A new discovery about the Australopithecus show more evidence of the evolution of earlier primates and later primates that lead to human evolution. This diversity of subspecies and varieties of the widespread adaptation Australpithecus is already known that lead to the evolution of humans. The discovery shows this variation of Australpithecus lived partially in trees.

Source: https://www.9news.com.au/world/little-foot-australopithecus-lived-in-trees-was-vegetarian-say-researchers/921c0d91-196e-4c0e-a6ba-f5bb53a7c5e8

Ancient human ancestor probably lived in trees

© Copyright Original Source

Abstract:

Source: The atlas of StW 573 and the late emergence of human-like head mobility and brain metabolism

Australopithecus. Finally, assessment of the cross-sectional areas of the transverse foramina of the atlas and the left carotid canal in StW 573 further suggests there may have been lower metabolic costs for cerebral tissues in this hominin than have been attributed to extant humans and may support the idea that blood perfusion of these tissues increased over the course of hominin evolution.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

I should also note that the entire paper is available as well at the link above for those who are interested

[shunyadragon]

Abstract:

Source: The atlas of StW 573 and the late emergence of human-like head mobility and brain metabolism

Australopithecus. Finally, assessment of the cross-sectional areas of the transverse foramina of the atlas and the left carotid canal in StW 573 further suggests there may have been lower metabolic costs for cerebral tissues in this hominin than have been attributed to extant humans and may support the idea that blood perfusion of these tissues increased over the course of hominin evolution.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

I should also note that the entire paper is available as well at the link above for those who are interested

Thank you for the new info. For new discoveries in science we make a reasonable tag team of information. Most may not respond, but the information speaks for itself.