TitleOutstanding questions in the study of archaic hominin admixture.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsWolf, AB, Akey, JM
JournalPLoS Genet
Volume14
Issue5
Paginatione1007349
Date Published2018 05
ISSN1553-7404
KeywordsAdaptation, Biological, Animals, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Flow, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, Hominidae, Humans, Models, Genetic, Sequence Analysis, DNA
Abstract

The complete sequencing of archaic and modern human genomes has revolutionized the study of human history and evolution. The application of paleogenomics has answered questions that were beyond the scope of archaeology alone-definitively proving admixture between archaic and modern humans. Despite the remarkable progress made in the study of archaic-modern human admixture, many outstanding questions remain. Here, we review some of these questions, which include how frequent archaic-modern human admixture was in history, to what degree drift and selection are responsible for the loss and retention of introgressed sequences in modern human genomes, and how surviving archaic sequences affect human phenotypes.

DOI10.1371/journal.pgen.1007349
Alternate JournalPLoS Genet.
PubMed ID29852022
PubMed Central IDPMC5978786
Grant ListR01 GM110068 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
R01GM110068 / NH / NIH HHS / United States