The Palaeogenomics study conducted by the Human
Evolutionary1 Biology group of the
Faculty2 of Science and Technology, led by Concepción de la Rua, in
collaboration3 with researchers in Sweden, the Netherlands and Romania, has made it possible to
retrieve4 the complete sequence of the mitogenome of the Pestera Muierii woman(PM1)using two teeth. This mitochondrial genome corresponds to the now disappeared U6 basal lineage, and it is from this lineage that the U6 lineages, now existing mainly in the populations of the north of Africa,
descend5 from. So the study has not only made it possible to confirm the Eurasian origin of the U6 lineage but also to support the hypothesis that some populations
embarked6 on a back-migration to Africa from Eurasia at the start of the Upper Palaeolithic, about 40-45,000 years ago. The Pestera Muierii individual represents one branch of this return journey to Africa of which there is no direct evidence owing to the lack of Palaeolithic fossil
remains7 in the north of Africa.
"Right now, the research group is analysing the nuclear genome the results of which could provide us with information about its relationship with the Neanderthals and about the existence of genomic variations associated with the immune system that accounts for the evolutionary success of Homo sapiens over other human species with whom it co-existed. What is more, we will be able to see what the phenotypic features of early Homo sapiens were like, and also see how population movements in the past influence the understanding of our evolutionary history," explained Prof Concepción de la Rúa.
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