Yermakovich, Danat, André, Mathilde, Brucato, Nicolas, Kariwiga, Jason, Leavesley, Matthew, Pankratov, Vasili, Mondal, Mayukh, Ricaut, François-Xavier, and Dannemann, Michael (2024) Denisovan admixture facilitated environmental adaptation in Papua New Guinean populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121 (26). e2405889121.

Preview

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (799kB) | Preview

Abstract

Neandertals and Denisovans, having inhabited distinct regions in Eurasia and possibly Oceania for over 200,000 y, experienced ample time to adapt to diverse environmental challenges these regions presented. Among present-day human populations, Papua New Guineans (PNG) stand out as one of the few carrying substantial amounts of both Neandertal and Denisovan DNA, a result of past admixture events with these archaic human groups. This study investigates the distribution of introgressed Denisovan and Neandertal DNA within two distinct PNG populations, residing in the highlands of Mt Wilhelm and the lowlands of Daru Island. These locations exhibit unique environmental features, some of which may parallel the challenges that archaic humans once confronted and adapted to. Our results show that PNG highlanders carry higher levels of Denisovan DNA compared to PNG lowlanders. Among the Denisovan-like haplotypes with higher frequencies in highlander populations, those exhibiting the greatest frequency difference compared to lowlander populations also demonstrate more pronounced differences in population frequencies than frequency-matched nonarchaic variants. Two of the five most highly differentiated of those haplotypes reside in genomic areas linked to brain development genes. Conversely, Denisovan-like haplotypes more frequent in lowlanders overlap with genes associated with immune response processes. Our findings suggest that Denisovan DNA has provided genetic variation associated with brain biology and immune response to PNG genomes, some of which might have facilitated adaptive processes to environmental challenges.

Item ID:	85870
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1091-6490
Copyright Information:	Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).
Date Deposited:	18 Jun 2025 00:06
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4401 Anthropology > 440101 Anthropology of development @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3104 Evolutionary biology > 310410 Phylogeny and comparative analysis @ 50%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280123 Expanding knowledge in human society @ 100%
	More Statistics