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Candidate Denisovan fossils identified through gene regulatory phenotyping
Nadav Mishol1,2, Gadi Herzlinger3,4,5, Yoel Rak6
1Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Summary
Genetic phenotyping identified Denisovan morphology in Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils. The Harbin and Dali crania show high concordance with predicted Denisovan traits, aiding in classifying extinct human groups.
Area of Science:
- Paleoanthropology
- Genetics
- Human Evolution
Background:
- Denisovans are an extinct human group with poorly understood morphology due to scarce fossil evidence.
- Previous genetic phenotyping research aimed to infer Denisovan anatomy from gene regulatory changes.
- Understanding Denisovan adaptation and evolutionary relationships is crucial for human evolution studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils exhibiting predicted Denisovan morphology.
- To quantitatively assess the degree of morphological concordance with Denisovan profiles.
- To explore the potential of gene regulatory phenotyping in classifying poorly understood hominin specimens.
Main Methods:
- Scanning the Middle Pleistocene fossil record for crania matching predicted Denisovan morphology.
- Developing quantitative measures to assess the proportion and extent of morphological matches.
- Comparing fossil crania, including Neanderthals, against the Denisovan genetic phenotype profile.
Main Results:
- The East Asian fossils Harbin and Dali exhibited exceptionally high concordance with the Denisovan profile.
- 15/18 features of Dali and 16/18 features of Harbin matched Denisovan predictions.
- Kabwe 1 showed a strong affinity to the Denisovan-Neanderthal clade, potentially near its root.
Conclusions:
- Gene regulatory phenotyping can effectively assist in the classification of incompletely understood hominin fossils.
- The Harbin and Dali crania are strong candidates for representing Denisovan morphology.
- This approach offers new avenues for studying extinct human groups with limited fossil records.
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