Shocking Research: If You Have This Beauty, You May Have DNA From Another Species

A facial beauty that many people are proud of, even trying to get plastic surgery to achieve, is a clear trace of interspecies marriage between Homo sapiens ancestors and an extinct human species.

According to Sci-News, that feature is a high nose .

ATF3 , a gene that gives us higher noses, may have been a product of natural selection as ancient humans adapted to colder climates after leaving Africa. But the first humans to possess this trait weren't us Homo sapiens, but Neanderthals .

A high, straight nose may be a legacy from another species - (Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY).

Neanderthals were another extinct species of human, part of the Homo genus, and there is ample evidence that our ancestors interbred with them. The resulting "hybrid" offspring inherited many distinctive traits that greatly affected their appearance and health, and have been passed down to present generations.

The results come from a detailed study of the genes and physical characteristics of 6,486 adults in Latin America.

Some DNA from our other ancestors, Neanderthals, influenced the shape of our faces, said lead author Dr Kausstubh Adhikari from University College London and the Open University in the UK.

A total of 33 gene regions associated with facial shape were identified, including ATF3, which clearly shows Neanderthal heritage.

Inheriting this gene, our ancestors who chose to live in cold climates would have adapted more easily to their new lives, thereby passing this trait on to future generations.

"Our noses can help us regulate the temperature and humidity of the air we breathe, so different shaped noses may have been better suited to the different climates our ancestors lived in," explained co-author Dr Qing Li from Fudan University in China.

The study was recently published in Communication Biology.