Jammer Wrote:
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> Good link Geotio, thanks
>
> > "Neanderthal control of human genes endures,
> some of it positive and some negative."
>
> It also makes the point the areas least affected
> are brain & testes...

Yep , this is the kind of research which has transformed our understanding and was a bit of a dream even 15 yrs ago .

"Neanderthal control waned most in the cerebellum and the basal ganglia, brain regions vital for fine motor control and perception, that evolved further in humans to encompass advanced thinking, including language processing and behaviour.

One gene with fading Neanderthal influence is NTRK2, key to neuron survival and the formation of brain connections. This illustrates the kinds of fine-tuning that may have allowed our ancestors to soar away intellectually.

The differences in the testes, meanwhile, throw new light on how a species may eventually split by becoming sexually incompatible. One of the testes genes over which Neanderthal DNA lost control affects the formation of a sperm’s tail and, subsequently, its ability to penetrate and fertilise an egg.

Akey and his colleagues speculate that once this control had been relinquished, neither Neanderthals nor Neanderthal-human hybrids could mate with humans any more. “Our results are consistent with reduced fitness of male hybrid offspring,” says Akey."