Ignacio Martín Lerma

Ignacio Martín Lerma

Ignacio Martín Lerma
Position

Professor of Prehistory at the University of Murcia.

A study suggests that interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans occurred mostly between Neanderthal males and modern human females

When Neanderthals and modern humans had offspring together, little Neanderthal DNA from the X chromosome entered the human gene pool. A study published in the journal Science traced ancient gene flow and found a relative excess of 62% modern human ancestry on Neanderthal X chromosomes. This suggests that the couples who had children were mostly Neanderthal men and modern human women, although the authors cannot rule out the possibility that demographic processes played a significant role.

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