Targeted Investigation of the Neandertal Genome by Array-Based Sequence Capture.

Neandertals, our closest relatives, ranged across Europe and Southwest Asia before their extinction approximately 30,000 years ago. Green et al. (p. [710][1]) report a draft sequence of the Neandertal genome, created from three individuals, and compare it with genomes of five modern humans. The results suggest that ancient genomes of human relatives can be recovered with acceptably low contamination from modern human DNA. Because ancient DNA can be contaminated with microbial DNA, Burbano et al. (p. [723][2]) developed a target sequence capture approach to obtain 14 kilobases of Neandertal DNA from a fairly poorly preserved sample with a high microbial load. A number of genomic regions and genes were revealed as candidates for positive selection early in modern human history. The genomic data suggest that Neandertals mixed with modern human ancestors some 120,000 years ago, leaving traces of Neandertal DNA in contemporary humans. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1188021 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1188046