Today a historical paleontological finding is published in the journal Nature. Collaboration between German and Spanish researchers has led to the sequencing of the oldest human genome found to date , dating back 400,000 years. The genetic material was taken from a Homo heidelbergensis femur discovered at the Atapuerca site of Burgos, and has revealed an unexpected interbreeding between remote hominid populations that redefines the human evolutionary line.
The team of paleontologists, which brings together the most renowned specialists in genetics in the world, made numerous holes in the fossil and obtained two grams of bone powder rich in genetic material. Using an advanced technique to recover damaged DNA, the scientists identified a sequence of 50 pairs, which represents only a tiny part of the human genome, made up of 3.2 billion pairs. It is also mitochondrial DNA, located in the cytoplasm of the cell and inherited only through the maternal route , which provides less information than the chromatin of nuclear DNA.
Despite the challenge of decoding ancient genetic information, the researchers were able to identify the hominid species, known as Homo heidelbergensis . The analysis of its DNA forced the experts to draw a new genealogical tree, revealing that this extinct species is not a direct ancestor of Homo Neanderthal as expected, but is closely related to the Denisovans, a Siberian lineage that inhabited the Earth. thousands of years later.
The Sima de los Huesos de Atapuerca is the excavation that meets the most optimal conservation conditions in the world , since inside the temperature and humidity remain unchanged. This chasm is located in a vertical well 13 meters deep, 30 meters below the earth’s surface and more than 500 meters from the nearest entrance to the cave. Thanks to the permafrost in their soil, paleontologists have succeeded in sequencing the genomes of equally long-lived animals.
According to specialists, this is just one of the innumerable contributions that the Atapuerca site will provide over the next few decades, since only 1% of the petrified remains that this vertical time tunnel houses have been discovered.
