Before driving them to extinction, early modern humans didn't minddallying with the Neanderthal tribes and in the process passed on many of their genes that now mark our greatly improved immune systems, the San Francisco Chroniclereports.
This Ice Age interbreeding took place in a part of the world now known as Europe, according to a study published Thursday in the journal ScienceExpress.
In the report, Peter Parham, a Stanford microbiologist and immunologist, says he and 22 colleagues from five nations traced the genetic history of varied peoples who moved into Europe and the Middle East from Africa.
The German anthropologist Svänte Paabo and his colleagues first deciphered the Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes and showed where and when they interbred with modern humans, the Chronicle writes.
"We didn't just replace the Neanderthals and Denisovans, we have retained some of them in us," Parham says, according to the Chronicle. "There was a lot of diversity in dealing with the pathogens they faced, and we have that diversity, too."
According to the study, the parts of the modern immune system that come from the Neanderthals and other pre-humans help protect humans from some bacterial infectons and viruses, and the rejection of tissue tranplants.
Humans eventually overran the Neanderthals and other groups, who were gone 30,000 years ago.
This Ice Age interbreeding took place in a part of the world now known as Europe, according to a study published Thursday in the journal ScienceExpress.
In the report, Peter Parham, a Stanford microbiologist and immunologist, says he and 22 colleagues from five nations traced the genetic history of varied peoples who moved into Europe and the Middle East from Africa.
The German anthropologist Svänte Paabo and his colleagues first deciphered the Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes and showed where and when they interbred with modern humans, the Chronicle writes.
"We didn't just replace the Neanderthals and Denisovans, we have retained some of them in us," Parham says, according to the Chronicle. "There was a lot of diversity in dealing with the pathogens they faced, and we have that diversity, too."
According to the study, the parts of the modern immune system that come from the Neanderthals and other pre-humans help protect humans from some bacterial infectons and viruses, and the rejection of tissue tranplants.
Humans eventually overran the Neanderthals and other groups, who were gone 30,000 years ago.
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