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

Abstract

Ancient mitochondrial DNA from a hominin individual who lived in the Altai Mountains in Southern Siberia between 48,000 and 30,000 years ago has been sequenced ( http://go.nature.com/sokd1F for News story). Comparative genomics suggest that this mtDNA derives from an out-of-Africa migration distinct from those that gave rise to Neanderthals and modern humans. The stratigraphy of the Denisova Cave where the bone — part of the fifth 'little finger' digit — was excavated in 2008, suggests that this hominin lived close geographically to Neanderthals and modern humans, and at the same time. Taken with the presence of Homo floresiensis in Indonesia about 17,000 years ago, this discovery suggests that multiple late Pleistocene hominin lineages coexisted for long periods of time in Eurasia. Ancient mitochondrial DNA from a hominin individual who lived in the mountains of Central Asia between 48,000–30,000 years ago has been sequenced. Comparative genomics suggest that this mitochondrial DNA derives from an out-of-Africa migration distinct from the ones that gave rise to Neanderthals and modern humans. It also seems that this hominin lived in close spatio-temporal proximity to Neanderthals and modern humans. With the exception of Neanderthals, from which DNA sequences of numerous individuals have now been determined1, 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 humans2,3,4.