Blood group analyses for three Neandertals and one Denisovan by a team from the Anthropologie Bio-Culturelle, Droit, Éthique et Santé research unit (CNRS / Aix-Marseille University / EFS) confirm hypotheses concerning their African origin, Eurasian dispersal, and interbreeding with early Homo sapiens. The researchers also found further evidence of low genetic diversity and possible demographic fragility. Their findings are published in PLOS ONE (28 July 2021).
© Stéphane Mazières (photos: Douka et al. / Mafessoni et al. / Prüfer et al. / Green et al.)
Geographic origin, blood group and dating of individuals studied. Rh blood group system analysis (+ = full Rh(D) antigen ; + partial = partial Rh(D) antigen / - = missing Rh(D) antigen) suggested risk of haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn among Neandertals and revealed interbreeding (possibly in the Levant), traces of which might be found in modern humans from Australia and Papua New Guinea. In three of the individuals, the presence of a ‘non-secretor’ allele, associated with protection from certain viruses, suggests selective pressure exerted by the latter.
The extinct hominin lineages of the Neandertals and Denisovans were present throughout Eurasia from 300,000 to 40,000 years ago. Despite prior sequencing of about 15 Neandertal and Denisovan individuals, the study of the genes underlying blood groups had hitherto been neglected. Yet blood group systems were the first markers used by anthropologists to reconstruct the origins of hominin populations, their migrations, and their interbreeding.
In a new study, scientists from the CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, and the French Blood Establishment (EFS) have examined the previously sequenced genomes of one Denisovan and three Neandertal females who lived 100,000 to 40,000 years ago, in order to identify their blood groups and consider what they may reveal about human's evolutionary history. Of the 40-some known blood group systems, the team concentrated on the seven usually considered for blood transfusion purposes, the most common of which are the ABO (determining the A, B, AB, and O blood types) and Rh systems.
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