A multi-institution research team has developed computational genetic tools to address the genetic effects of interbreeding between humans of non-African ancestry and Neanderthals that took place some 50,000 years ago.
'Interestingly, we found that several of the identified genes involved in modern human immune, metabolic and developmental systems might have influenced human evolution after the ancestors' migration out of Africa,' said study co-lead author Dr Xinzhu Wei, an assistant professor of computational biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University, New York. 'We have made our custom software available for free download and use by anyone interested in further research.'
Publishing their results in eLife, the researchers reported that some Neanderthal genes are responsible for certain traits in modern humans.
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