Submitted by Da Verminator: A 38,000-year old bone has yielded the world"s first complete Neanderthal mitochondrial genome sequence, offering a tantalising glimpse at the genetic changes that separate humans from Neanderthals, which split some 600 millennia ago. The mitochondrion – a structure often dubbed the cell"s powerhouse – contains a mere 16,565 DNA letters that code for 13 proteins, whereas the nucleus holds more than 3 billion letters that produce more than 20,000 proteins. If DNA were to the size of a standard soccer pitch, then mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) would be equivalent to a small flowerbed. For the time being therefore, the largely symbolic and technical breakthrough offers only limited insight into theevolution of humankind.
"It"s kind of opening the window a crack," says Tom Gilbert, an expert on ancient DNA at the University of Copenhagen, who was not involved in the sequencing project. Yet the research, led by Richard Green and Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, will pave the way for the construction and analysis of the complete Neanderthal genome. A rough draft should be finished by the end of the year, Green told New Scientist. No sex, please: This is not to say that such mtDNA sequences are of no use to scientists. Previous work on shorter stretches of Neanderthal mtDNA has dated their last common ancestor with humans to about 660,000 years ago, give or take 140,000 years. We know also that humans and Neanderthals didn"t interbreed enough to leave a mark in eithergenome. The new, complete sequence firms up these conclusions. The code also offers tantalising clues to Neanderthal life and human evolution. When Green"s team compared the protein-making portion of Neanderthal mtDNA to that of other primates, they found a pattern of genetic differences suggesting that either Neanderthals were evolving rapidly or that they lived in small groups, which would reduce genetic mixing. Green and Gilbert both favour the latter interpretation because Neanderthals lived as hunter-gatherers, a lifestyle unsuited for large groups.
Jawbones from an early human ancestor, found recently in northeast Ethiopia, could shine light on a murky period of human evolution, paleontologists say. The bones were found in the fossil-rich Afar region, just 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the spot where the famed skeleton of "Lucy"—early human ancestor who lived 3.2 million years ago—was unearthed in 1974. (What was Lucy?) The new bones are believed to date from 3.8 million to 3.5 million years ago. Though more research ...
Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: Protein extracted from 68 million-year-old T. rex bones has shed new light on the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds. Researchers compared organic molecules preserved in the T. rex fossils with those of living animals, and found they were similar to chicken protein. The discovery of protein in dinosaur bones is a surprise - organic material was not thought to survive this long. A US team of researchers have published the finding in Science journal. The team ...
Submitted by Pandora: A monkey-like animal seen as an ancestor of monkeys, apes and humans was not as brainy as expected, according to scientists who analyzed its nicely preserved 29-million-year-old skull. The finding indicated that primate brain enlargement evolved later than once thought, the researchers said on Monday.They analyzed a remarkably well-preserved fossilized skull of the little primate Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which lived in the trees and ate fruit and leaves about 29 million year...
A baby mammoth unearthed in the permafrost of north-west Siberia could be the best preserved specimen of its type, scientists have said. The frozen carcass is to be sent to Japan for detailed study. The six-month-old female calf was discovered on the Yamal peninsula of Russia and is thought to have died 10,000 years ago. The animal's trunk and eyes are still intact and some of its fur remains on the body. Mammoths are an extinct member of the elephant family. Adults often possessed long...
Workers at a leisure facility found a fossil containing traces of dinosaur skin patterns, a rare discovery that could shed light on the actual appearance of the creature, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum said Thursday. Museum officials said classifying the dinosaur has been difficult because fossils of its bones have not been found. But they said it could be a plant-eater from the early Cretaceous Period, about 100 million to 140 million years ago, judging from the age of the stratum where ...
There's a new extraterrestrial suspect in the mysterious, highly debated disappearance of the woolly mammoth some 12,900 years ago. A team of two dozen scientists say the culprit was likely a comet that exploded in the atmosphere above North America. The explosions sent a heat and shock wave across the continent, pelted the ground with a layer of telltale debris, ignited massive wildfires and triggered a major cooling of the climate, said nuclear analytic chemist Richard Firestone of Lawrenc...
The remains of a huge beaked dinosaur with the looks of an ostrich but the weight of a rhino have been discovered in China's Gobi desert, fossil hunters have announced. The previously unknown dinosaur weighed in around 1.5 tons (1.4 metric tons) and stood more than 16 feet (5 meters) tall—an extraordinary size given its birdlike appearance, say the Chinese researchers who found it. (See a photo gallery of the giant dinosaur. Gigantoraptor erlianensis, which lived some 70 million yea...
First appearing approximately 230 million years ago colossal creatures known as ‘dinosaurs’ ruled the earth. For millions of years, no other animal species legitimately threatened the existence of dinosaurs. Nonetheless, on one unlucky day, approximately 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth or so the story goes…On occasion throughout history, there have been sightings from remote regions of the world of enormous creatures that resemble various dino...
Posted by nuke on Monday, July 30 @ 07:27:07 CDT (190 reads)--
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Submitted by Da Verminator: A 38,000-year old bone has yielded the world"s first complete Neanderthal mitochondrial genome sequence, offering a tantalising glimpse at the genetic changes that separate humans from Neanderthals, which split some 600 millennia ago. The mitochondrion – a structure often dubbed the cell"s powerhouse – contains a mere 16,565 DNA letters that code for 13 proteins, whereas the nucleus holds more than 3 billion letters that produce more than 20,000 proteins. If DNA were to the size of a standard soccer pitch, then mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) would be equivalent to a small flowerbed. For the time being therefore, the largely symbolic and technical breakthrough offers only limited insight into theevolution of humankind. 
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