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. 2010 Apr 8;464(7290):894-7.
doi: 10.1038/nature08976. Epub 2010 Mar 24.

The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia

Johannes Krause  1 , Qiaomei Fu, Jeffrey M Good, Bence Viola, Michael V Shunkov, Anatoli P Derevianko, Svante Pääbo
Affiliations

The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia

Johannes Krause et al. Nature. .

Abstract

With the exception of Neanderthals, from which DNA sequences of numerous individuals have now been determined, the number and genetic relationships of other hominin lineages are largely unknown. Here we report a complete mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequence retrieved from a bone excavated in 2008 in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia. It represents a hitherto unknown type of hominin mtDNA that shares a common ancestor with anatomically modern human and Neanderthal mtDNAs about 1.0 million years ago. This indicates that it derives from a hominin migration out of Africa distinct from that of the ancestors of Neanderthals and of modern humans. The stratigraphy of the cave where the bone was found suggests that the Denisova hominin lived close in time and space with Neanderthals as well as with modern humans.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Physical features of Denisova mtDNA.
a, b, Nucleotide misincorporation patterns (a) and nucleotide frequencies of the aligned reference sequence (b) at and around the ends of mtDNA fragments sequenced from the Denisova hominin. PowerPoint slide
Figure 2
Figure 2. Distribution of pairwise nucleotide differences.
Pairwise nucleotide differences from all pairs of complete mtDNAs from 54 present-day and one Pleistocene modern human, six Neanderthals and the Denisova hominin are shown. PowerPoint slide
Figure 3
Figure 3. Phylogenetic tree of complete mtDNAs.
The phylogeny was estimated with a Bayesian approach under a GTR+I+Γ model using 54 present-day and one Pleistocene modern human mtDNA (grey), 6 Neanderthals (blue) and the Denisova hominin (red). The tree is rooted with a chimpanzee and a bonobo mtDNA. Posterior probabilities are given for each major node. The map shows the geographical origin of the mtDNAs (24, 25, 32, 44 are in the Americas). Note that two partial mtDNAs sequenced from Teshik Tash and Okladikov Cave in Central Asia fall together with the complete Neanderthal mtDNAs in phylogenies (not shown). PowerPoint slide
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