Re: [asa] The Neanderthal Genome Project

On 11/16/06, drsyme@cablespeed.com <drsyme@cablespeed.com> wrote:
>
> Have you heard about this anyone? They have sequenced
> part of Neanderthal DNA!
>
> So far some of the conclusions; they have 99.5% similarity
> to the human genome, and they claim there was no
> interbreeding between modern homo sapiens and
> neanderthals.
>
> I wonder if they have sequenced the foxp2 gene yet? This
> might give us some insight into whether or not they had
> spoken language.

No. From the Nature account:

> Both groups are pumping new sequences into publicly accessible databases.
> Nearly 5 million base pairs are already available. By spring, Pääbo expects
> to have about 1% of the Neanderthal genome completed.
>
> Rubin is now developing methods to target specific genes in the regions of
> the genome that are different in Neanderthals and modern humans. This
> approach, he says, allows one "to reach in and fish out DNA for analysis for
> different traits".
>
> One of the first fishing trips will be for a gene called *FOXP2*, which in
> *H. sapiens* is linked to speech and language. Many animals have the gene,
> but the human version has distinct differences from that of the chimpanzee.
>

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Received on Thu Nov 16 20:25:46 2006