The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia

Abstract

With the exception of Neanderthals, from which DNA sequences of numerous individuals have now been determined, the number and genetic relationships of other hominin lineages are largely unknown. Here we report a complete mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequence retrieved from a bone excavated in 2008 in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia. It represents a hitherto unknown type of hominin mtDNA that shares a common ancestor with anatomically modern human and Neanderthal mtDNAs about 1.0 million years ago. This indicates that it derives from a hominin migration out of Africa distinct from that of the ancestors of Neanderthals and of modern humans. The stratigraphy of the cave where the bone was found suggests that the Denisova hominin lived close in time and space with Neanderthals as well as with modern humans.

Almost 20 years of Neanderthal palaeogenetics: adaptation, admixture, diversity, demography and extinction

“…Both nuclear and mtDNA extracted from these remains suggest that Denisovans were as genetically diverse as two present-day humans from different continents and more diverse than Neanderthals from throughout their range, suggesting that their effective population size was relatively large [30] (see also a later discussion in [31]). By employing a user-defined hybridization-capture method, a high-coverage mtDNA genome from the Denisovan finger bone was retrieved [32], and it was estimated that it diverged from the common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals around 1 million years ago [33]. Moreover, as both nuclear archaic genomes were sequenced, clearer phylogenetic relationships were established for the first time.…”

Mammal madness: is the mammal tree of life not yet resolved?

“…It is now possible to sequence the whole genome of recent fossils and ultimately place them on a tree, from as little as a single bone (e.g. Denisovan [118]). This greatly advances our understanding of fossil placement in the tree.…”

Ancient mitochondrial DNA from the northern fringe of the Neolithic farming expansion in Europe sheds light on the dispersion process

“…Temporal correction and confidence intervals (CIs) were computed as above, assuming a mutation rate of 7.71 Â 10 28 mutations per year and base pair in the 304 bp region we focused the analyses on. This mutation rate was obtained using the observed average divergence of 0.0688992 substitutions per base pair between 613 modern-day Scandinavians to a Neanderthal sequence from Vindija Cave and an assumed Neanderthalmodern human mtDNA divergence of 466 000 years [53]. The latter corresponds to 466 000 Â 2 -38 310 ¼ 893 690 years of evolution taking the age of 38 310 years of the Neanderthal individual into account.…”