Hi, Chris-- I'm familiar with the earlier (95-99%) genetic overlap with chimps. I think that this predates current sequencing technology, so I'm not sure how much apples/oranges question there is about comparing this numbers with those from more current technology. Regarding Neanderthal/ human interbreeding, I'm going by some recent Scientific American articles. There's no evidence of overlap between Neanderthals and African humans. The estimates of overlap between Neanderthals and post African humans is estimated at 91-95% (see Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=neandertal-genome-study-r and http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/07/24/did-modern-humansnot-environmental-catastropheextinguish-the-neandertals/
I found a reference to the ~5% number for chimps in 2007 -- nothing more recent. And of course, genetics has gotten more complex than simple gene counts (releasers, etc). I'm certainly not a geneticist, but I suspect that the picture 20 years from now will look a lot different. And getting back to the original point, despite the interbreeding, Neanderthals are not regarded as ancestors to Homo Sap, but rather a case of parallel evolution. African Homo Sapiens have no evidence of Neanderthal DNA. On Aug 14, 2012, at 11:41 AM, Christopher Green wrote: > On 2012-08-14, at 11:25 AM, Paul Brandon wrote: > >> On Aug 14, 2012, at 10:22 AM, Christopher Green wrote: >> >>> On 2012-08-14, at 10:11 AM, Michael Palij wrote: >>> >>>> There a few papers causing a lot of discussion among researchers on the >>>> question of whether (a) humans and Neanderthals interbreed or (b) did >>>> not interbreed but date back to a common ancestor long ago. What is >>>> also interesting is the role that peer review and the length it takes for >>>> scientific papers to get published. There are a variety of sources on this >>>> but this article highlights the role of peer review and publication lag; >>>> see: >>>> http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/08/mating-with-neanderthals-is-off-again-on-again/ >>> >>> I love the sleight of hand implicit in the turn of phrase, "what our >>> ancestors may or may not have done with Neanderthals" (at the end of the >>> first paragraph). If ancient sapiens were "doing it" with Neanderthals, >>> then the Neaderthals are every bit as much "our ancestors" as the sapiens >>> are. >> >> >> 4% genetic overlap, I believe. >> > > Depends on how you count, Paul. Since we have something like a 99% genetic > overlap with chimps, I'm guessing our genetic overlap with Neanderthals > probably covers pretty close to 99% (96%, if you prefer) of the remaining 1%. > Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19743 or send a blank email to leave-19743-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
