RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The MERS-CoV receptor gene is among COVID-19 risk factors inherited from Neandertals JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.12.11.422139 DO 10.1101/2020.12.11.422139 A1 Zeberg, Hugo A1 Pääbo, Svante YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/12/12/2020.12.11.422139.abstract AB In the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, two genetic regions derived from Neandertals have been shown to increase and decrease, respectively, the risk of falling severely ill upon infection. Here, we show that 2-8% of people in Eurasia carry a variant promoter region of the DPP4 gene inherited from Neandertals. This gene encodes an enzyme that serves as a receptor for the coronavirus MERS-CoV and is currently not believed to be a receptor for SARS-CoV-2. However, the Neandertal DPP4 variant doubles the risk to become critically ill in COVID-19.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.