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Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the northern Caucasus

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Abstract

The expansion of premodern humans into western and eastern Europe ∼40,000 years before the present led to the eventual replacement of the Neanderthals by modern humans ∼28,000 years ago1. Here we report the second mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of a Neanderthal, and the first such analysis on clearly dated Neanderthal remains. The specimen is from one of the eastern-most Neanderthal populations, recovered from Mezmaiskaya Cave in the northern Caucasus2. Radiocarbon dating estimated the specimen to be ∼29,000 years old and therefore from one of the latest living Neanderthals3. The sequence shows 3.48% divergence from the Feldhofer Neanderthal4. Phylogenetic analysis places the two Neanderthals from the Caucasus and western Germany together in a clade that is distinct from modern humans, suggesting that their mtDNA types have not contributed to the modern human mtDNA pool. Comparison with modern populations provides no evidence for the multiregional hypothesis of modern human evolution.

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Figure 1: The area within which Neanderthal remains have been found (dotted line).
Figure 2: Variable sites in the DNA sequences of the PCR fragments obtained by direct sequencing (Direct 1 and 2) and cloned PCR products derived from the Neanderthal from Mezmaiskaya Cave.
Figure 3: Phylogenetic relationship of the two Neanderthals and modern humans.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to L. V. Golovanova for the excavations in Mezmaiskaya Cave that provided materials for analysis. We thank V. P. Ljubin and P. Vanezis for encouragement and support; B. L. Cohen for numerous discussions; J. L. Harley, O. I. Ovtchinnikova, E. B. Druzina and J. Wakefield for technical help and assistance; R. Page for help with the phylogenetic analysis; and P. Beerli, A. Cooper, M. Cusack, M. Nordborg and M. Ruvolo for useful comments. I.V.O. thanks his host G. Curry. I.V.O. was supported by a Royal Society/NATO Fellowship. We thank the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences and the Swedish Research Council for Natural Sciences for partial financial support.

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  1. Igor V. Ovchinnikov

    Present address: Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, 10032, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Identification Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK

    Igor V. Ovchinnikov & William Goodwin

  2. Institute of Gerontology, Moscow, 129226, Russia

    Igor V. Ovchinnikov

  3. Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden

    Anders Götherström & Kerstin Lidén

  4. Institute of Archaeology, Moscow, 117036, Russia

    Galina P. Romanova

  5. Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Moscow State University, Moscow, 103009, Russia

    Vitaliy M. Kharitonov

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  1. Igor V. Ovchinnikov
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  2. Anders Götherström
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  3. Galina P. Romanova
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  4. Vitaliy M. Kharitonov
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  5. Kerstin Lidén
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  6. William Goodwin
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Correspondence to William Goodwin.

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Ovchinnikov, I., Götherström, A., Romanova, G. et al. Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the northern Caucasus. Nature 404, 490–493 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35006625

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