As little as 1.5% of our genome is ‘uniquely human’
Less than 10% of your genome is unique to modern humans, with the rest being shared with ancient human relatives such as Neanderthals, according to a new study.
The study researchers also found that the portion of DNA that’s unique to modern humans is enriched for genes involved with brain development and brain function. This finding suggests that genes for brain development and function are what really set us apart, genetically, from our ancestors.
However, it’s unclear what this finding means in terms of the actual biological differences between humans and Neanderthals, said study senior author Richard E. Green, an associate professor of biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
“That is a giant question that future work will have to disentangle,” Green told Live Science. “At least now we know where to look.”
For the new study, published Friday (July 16) in the journal Science Advances, the researchers aimed to tease apart the genes that are unique to modern-day humans as opposed to inherited from ancient ancestors. But this process is tricky because humans have genetic variants that they share with Neanderthals, not only because the two groups interbred, but also because humans and Neanderthals inherited some of the same genetic variants from a common ancestor. [Continue reading…]