Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau

Author

Dongju Zhang
Huan Xia
Fahu Chen
Bo Li
Viviane Slon
Ting Cheng
Ruowei Yang
Zenobia Jacobs
Qingyan Dai
Diyendo Massilani
Xuke Shen
Jian Wang
Xiaotian Feng
Peng Cao
Melinda A. Yang
Juanting Yao
Jishuai Yang
David B. Madsen
Yuanyuan Han
Wanjing Ping
Feng Liu
Charles Perreault, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.; Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
Xiaoshan Chen, Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Matthias Meyer, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
Janet Kelso, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
Svante Pääbo, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany.
Qiaomei Fu, Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS, Beijing 100044, China.; Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China.

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Publication Date

10-30-2020

Publication Title

Science

Volume Number

370

Issue Number

6516

Abstract

A timeline of cave dwellers in sediment Two archaic lineages overlapped with modern humans outside of Africa: the well-studied Neanderthals and their more mysterious cousins, the Denisovans. Denisovan remains are rare, being limited to Denisovan Cave in Siberia and a putative, undated jaw from Tibet. However, there is evidence for multiple introgressions from Denisovans into modern-day humans, especially in Australasian populations. By examining the sediment of Baishiya Karst Cave located on a high plateau in Tibet, Zhang et al. identified ancient mitochondrial DNA from Denisovans indicating their presence at about 100 thousand, 60 thousand, and possibly 45 thousand years ago. This finding provides insight into the timing and distribution of Denisovans in Asia and extends the time of occupation of the Tibetan plateau by hominins. Science , this issue p. 584

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6320

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Zhang, Dongju; Xia, Huan; Chen, Fahu; Li, Bo; Slon, Viviane; Cheng, Ting; Yang, Ruowei; Jacobs, Zenobia; Dai, Qingyan; Massilani, Diyendo; Shen, Xuke; Wang, Jian; Feng, Xiaotian; Cao, Peng; Yang, Melinda A.; Yao, Juanting; Yang, Jishuai; Madsen, David B.; Han, Yuanyuan; Ping, Wanjing; Liu, Feng; Perreault, Charles; Chen, Xiaoshan; Meyer, Matthias; Kelso, Janet; Pääbo, Svante; and Fu, Qiaomei, "Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau" (2020). KIP Articles. 9150.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/9150