Neanderthal, Modern Man DNA Differ DNA extracted from a 29,000-year-old bone has cast doubt on the theory that modern humans evolved in part from squat, heavy-browed Neanderthals, researchers say. Researchers compared DNA from a Neanderthal skeleton found in Russia to an older sample tested in 1997. While the two Neanderthal samples turned out to be just 3.5 percent different from one another, they were roughly 7 percent different from DNA in modern humans. Scientists consider that to be a substantial gap. ``It all points away from the Neanderthal,'' said one of the researchers, William Goodwin, a molecular biologist at the Human Identification Center in Glasgow, Scotland. The findings are being published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The researchers challenge the theory that modern humans evolved at least partly from Neanderthals, which some believe mated in large numbers with modern Europeans before disappearing 25,000 years ago. If that had happened, some argue, today's Europeans would show stronger genetic similarities to Neanderthals than other humans do. Yet the latest DNA analysis shows Neanderthal DNA to be no closer to Europeans than to other modern humans. Neanderthals were burly, primitive creatures with a prominent brow, thick jaw and short, powerful limbs. Originating in Africa, they appeared in Europe and Asia perhaps 100,000 years ago or longer. The 29,000-year-old Neanderthal DNA, which was recovered from a rib bone in a baby's skeleton found in Russia's Caucasus Mountains, was in better condition than the roughly 40,000-year-old Neanderthal DNA from Germany analyzed in 1997, the researchers said. The research team from Scotland, Sweden, Russia and the United States reassembled more than 2 percent of the later Neanderthal DNA from a tiny cellular structure known as the mitochondria. Molecular biologist Matthias Hoss, an expert in ancient remains now working at the Swiss Institute for Cancer Research, said the research appears to support the theory that Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end. ``This adds quite a lot of confidence that the Neanderthal didn't contribute to modern populations,'' he said. The study does support an opposing theory known as ``out-of-Africa,'' the research team said. This theory says modern humans descended from the true Homo sapiens, who originated in Africa and came to replace other early humans worldwide without great mixing. Homo sapiens would have arrived in Europe perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, scientists believe. 06:27 PM ET 03/28/00 By JEFF DONN= Associated Press Writer= http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi? ----------------------------------------------- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3023685.stm Last Updated: Tuesday, 13 May, 2003, 12:03 GMT 13:03 UK Blow to Neanderthal breeding theory Early modern humans and Neanderthals probably did not interbreed, according to evidence collected by Italian scientists. Researchers have long considered Neanderthals and the humans that lived in Europe 30,000 years ago as distinct species, even though they lived side by side. DNA taken The latest research, from the University of Ferrara in Italy, compared genetic material from Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon humans and 21st-Century Europeans. The DNA from the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons was taken from their bones. The genetic material was extracted from cell structures called mitochondria rather than the nucleus. The scientists found that while, unsurprisingly, modern humans show clear genetic signs of their Cro-Magnon ancestry, no such link between Neanderthal DNA and modern European DNA could be established. The results, they say, indicate that Neanderthals made little or no contribution to the genes of modern humans. Out of Africa The mitochondrial DNA of the two ancient species was very different, claims the study. "This discontinuity is difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that both Neanderthals and early anatomically modern humans contributed to the current European gene pool." The finding are said to support the theory that the "anatomically modern human" arose in Africa some 150,000 years ago and then dispersed across the globe, displacing the Neanderthals on the way. It is a blow to the so-called multi-regional theory, in which some interbreeding between Neanderthal and early humans is said to have taken place. The latest study is reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). ----------------------------------------------- FURTHER REFERENCES GO - "search perceptions" - in SEARCH-ENGINE file-ID www.perceptions.couk.com/neander.txt