Japanese people carry DNA from 3 different human species

A study based on more than 3,200 modern Japanese human gene sequences has found genetic elements inherited from two extinct human species.

Modern Japanese people are the result of the mixing of 3 groups of people from 3 different geographical regions. As for species, they carry the blood of three human species: Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans.

That is the result of the work of a group of authors from many institutes, schools, and laboratories affiliated with the RIKEN Center for Integrated Medical Sciences, Shizuoka General Hospital, Shizuoka University, University of Tokyo (Japan), Broad Institute of Harvard - MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (USA).

A festival in Tokyo - Japan - (Illustration: REUTERS).

According to the article published in the scientific journal Science Advances, they sequenced the genomes of more than 3,200 people living in seven regions in Japan to create the new Japanese Exome/Whole Genome Sequencing Library. (JEWEL).

From there, researchers discovered that modern Japanese people only originate from three main ancestral groups.

These were the Neolithic Jomon hunter-gatherers , ancestors of the Han Chinese in China, and an unidentified group of people from Northeast Asia.

In terms of species, Japanese people today have the blood of three human species belonging to the same genus Homo (Human genus).

In particular, most of the genome is still that of Homo sapiens, our modern species. However, they inherited many genetic factors from two extinct human species, Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Some of these genes are linked to the development of many diseases including type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, stable angina, atopic dermatitis, Graves' disease, prostate cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. short.

This "gift" from ancestors of different species has both positive and negative aspects. For example, some gene variants from Neanderthals provide better protection against coronary artery disease and angina, but other variants increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

Therefore, according to the authors, this new finding will contribute to improving medical care strategies for Japanese people.

The discovery of blood from two other human species in modern Japanese people is not really surprising, because the three species Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans are known to have interbred.

Before their extinction - about 40,000 years ago, some communities of these two "sister" human species lived near our Homo sapiens community in many parts of the world.

For Japanese people, the genes inherited from Neanderthals appear to be from the Asian Neanderthal group rather than Europe.

This species was once thought to live in what is now the Siberian tundra (Russia) and the Tibetan plateau (China), as well as in the Nordic-Mediterranean countries.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Denisovans bloodline is related to the indigenous peoples of Papua New Guinea and the Ayta people of the Philippines , populations that have been shown to inherit Denisovans DNA at high rates.