Non-African Neanderthal Connection

ALL NON-AFRICANS PART NEANDERTHAL, GENETICS CONFIRM

Analysis by Jennifer Viegas
Mon Jul 18, 2011 10:25 AM ET 

Neanderthal-zoom
(A museum reconstruction of a Neanderthal/credit: iStockPhoto)

If your heritage is non-African, you are part Neanderthal, according to a new study in the July issue ofMolecular Biology and Evolution. Discovery News has been reporting on human/Neanderthal interbreeding for some time now, so this latest research confirms earlier findings.

Damian Labuda of the University of Montreal’s Department of Pediatrics and the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center conducted the study with his colleagues. They determined some of the human X chromosome originates from Neanderthals, but only in people of non-African heritage.

“This confirms recent findings suggesting that the two populations interbred,” Labuda was quoted as saying in a press release. His team believes most, if not all, of the interbreeding took place in the Middle East, while modern humans were migrating out of Africa and spreading to other regions.

to read more, go to:   http://news.discovery.com/human/genetics-neanderthal-110718.html