Denisovan introgression has shaped the immune system of present-day Papuans.

ABSTRACT: Modern humans have admixed with multiple archaic hominins. Papuans, in particular, owe up to 5% of their genome to Denisovans, a sister group to Neanderthals whose remains have only been identified in Siberia and Tibet. Unfortunately, the biological and evolutionary significance of these introgression events remain poorly understood. Here we investigate the function of both Denisovan and Neanderthal alleles characterised within a set of 56 genomes from Papuan individuals. By comparing the distribution of archaic and non-archaic variants we assess the consequences of archaic admixture across a multitude of different cell types and functional elements. We observe an enrichment of archaic alleles within cis-regulatory elements and transcribed regions of the genome, with Denisovan variants str

SUBMITTER: Vespasiani DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9731433 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature