Summary of Hominid Gene Diversity Free Essay Example

The article questions whether or not a lack of genetic diversity could have contributed to the extinction of archaic humans. Those involved in the study used neanderthal, denisovan and modern human DNA to gather evidence for the theory. The article compiles data on the genomes of modern and archaic hominins and then see if the data provides evidence that suggests that a lack of genetic immune diversity played a role in their demise.

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The data presented is the ratios of genetic diversity in neanderthals, denisovans and modern humans of genes related to immunities and heterozygosity giving.

It showed how archive humans lacked diversity. They sequenced the data from genetic immune system traits as well an adaptive trait to compare such as white blood cells. They selected cases including two neanderthal DNA samples, one denisovan and 14 modern day humans from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. In one method, however, archaic hominins were found to have high SNPs than modern humans for only a few genes affecting histocompatibility.

The key finding was that variation between individuals in the archaic hominin species was overall lower than modern day humans. Because they sequenced genes affecting immune response it proved archaic species were less adaptive to environmental pathogens than their modern counterparts.

In short, we can better understand neanderthal and denisovan habits based on their diversity and location the cases are from. The data explains a contributing factor in why Archaic hominin species like neanderthals and denisovans slowly died out using sequenced DNA as evidence to support the claim.

On a broader scale it gives evidence explaining how modern humans beat archaic hominin species despite a possible or lack of competition and interbreeding. While modern humans inherited and benefited from genes and traits from neanderthals partners generations of these archaic people racked up deleterious and harmful traits and did not benefit from interbreeding. In contrast, it shows us how modern humans had an advantage over other hominid species when it comes to adaptive characteristics due to genes and natural selection. Today we can trace these advantages back to their origin in the very species we beat out over time. We can then learn from these comparisons and patterns to ensure that we don’t follow the same downfall as our distant cousins.

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