Deeply divergent archaic mitochondrial genome provides lower time boundary for African gene flow into Neanderthals

Cosimo Posth (), Christoph Wißing, Keiko Kitagawa, Luca Pagani, Laura van Holstein, Fernando Racimo, Kurt Wehrberger, Nicholas J. Conard, Claus Joachim Kind, Hervé Bocherens and Johannes Krause ()
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Cosimo Posth: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Christoph Wißing: Biogeology, University of Tübingen
Keiko Kitagawa: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Luca Pagani: Estonian Biocentre
Laura van Holstein: University of Cambridge
Fernando Racimo: New York Genome Center
Kurt Wehrberger: Ulmer Museum
Nicholas J. Conard: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Claus Joachim Kind: State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg
Hervé Bocherens: Biogeology, University of Tübingen
Johannes Krause: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Ancient DNA is revealing new insights into the genetic relationship between Pleistocene hominins and modern humans. Nuclear DNA indicated Neanderthals as a sister group of Denisovans after diverging from modern humans. However, the closer affinity of the Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to modern humans than Denisovans has recently been suggested as the result of gene flow from an African source into Neanderthals before 100,000 years ago. Here we report the complete mtDNA of an archaic femur from the Hohlenstein–Stadel (HST) cave in southwestern Germany. HST carries the deepest divergent mtDNA lineage that splits from other Neanderthals ∼270,000 years ago, providing a lower boundary for the time of the putative mtDNA introgression event. We demonstrate that a complete Neanderthal mtDNA replacement is feasible over this time interval even with minimal hominin introgression. The highly divergent HST branch is indicative of greater mtDNA diversity during the Middle Pleistocene than in later periods.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms16046

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