Science & Technology

Melanesian DNA hints at mystery hominid

By T.K. Randall
November 27, 2016

Image: AI-generated (Bing AI / Dall-E 3) When we delve in to our DNA it is possible to find evidence of our ancestors - genetic information that has been passed down from a time when other species of human walked the Earth.

Europeans, for instance, have distinct traces of Neanderthal DNA, while people from Asia possess DNA from the Denisovans - another human species that died out many thousands of years ago.

Scientists were left perplexed however when they found that the people native to Melanesia, a region in the Western Pacific, actually had an abnormally low percentage of Denisovan DNA.This suggests that they could also have DNA from a third, unknown hominid species.

The discovery was detailed recently at a meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics by researchers affiliated with the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and the University of Utah.

Their work involved creating a model that was able to show the transfer of genes between various populations in Melanesia and thus highlight the potential 'missing link' in the hominid tree.

With the physical remains of our early ancestors being so difficult to find, it could be that the missing Melanesian DNA may be from a hominid species we simply haven't discovered yet.

Source: Phys.org

Tags: Melanesia, Hominid, Human