RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Mitochondrial pseudogenes suggest repeated inter-species hybridization among direct human ancestors
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 134502
DO 10.1101/134502
A1 Konstantin Popadin
A1 Konstantin Gunbin
A1 Leonid Peshkin
A1 Sofia Annis
A1 Zoe Fleischmann
A1 Genya Kraytsberg
A1 Natalya Markuzon
A1 Rebecca R. Ackermann
A1 Konstantin Khrapko
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/10/19/134502.abstract
AB The hypothesis that the evolution of humans involved hybridization between diverged species has been actively debated in recent years. We present novel evidence in support of this hypothesis: the analysis of nuclear pseudogenes of mtDNA (“NUMTs”). NUMTs are considered “mtDNA fossils”, as they preserve sequences of ancient mtDNA and thus carry unique information about ancestral populations. Our comparison of a NUMT sequence shared by humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas with their mtDNAs implies that, around the time of divergence between humans and chimpanzees, our evolutionary history involved the interbreeding of individuals whose mtDNA had diverged as much as ~4.5 Myr prior. This large divergence suggests a distant interspecies hybridization. Additionally, analysis of two other NUMTs suggests that such events occurred repeatedly. Our findings suggest a complex pattern of speciation in primate human ancestors and provide a potential explanation for the mosaic nature of fossil morphology found at the emergence of the hominin lineage.