Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
1) Department of Biology and Forensic Science Program, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, USA; 2) Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117036, st. Dm. Ulyanova, 19, Moscow, Russia; 3) Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia; 4) Department of Forensic and Investigative Science, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
Ovchinnikov Igor V., e-mail: igor.ovtchinnikov@uconn.edu; Romanova G.P.; Kharitonov V.M., e-mail: h1946v@yandex.ru; Goodwin William, e-mail: WHGoodwin@uclan.ac.uk
The discovery of the mtDNA from the Mezmaiskaya Neanderthal is the second successful analysis of the Neanderthal DNA in the world. It was done when the ancient DNA field of modern genetics, anthropology, and paleontology found itself in the face of crisis due to a set of faked DNA sequences from an Egyptian mummy, a Cretaceous dinosaur bone, and different insects, plants, and microorganisms in amber and salt crystals. The Mezmaiskaya Neanderthal DNA brilliantly confirmed the first Neanderthal mtDNA sequence from Feldhofer Cave and the absence of contribution of the Neanderthal mitochondrial genome to the modern mtDNA gene pool. The Mezmaiskaya DNA made it possible to estimate the age of the divergence of the mtDNA of the eastern and western Neanderthals, offered the first detailed insight into the evolutionary relationship between the Neanderthal and human mtDNA sequences and opened a gate into Neanderthal population genetics.
ancient DNA, mitochondrial DNA, Neanderthal, Mezmaiskaya cave
Цит.: Ovchinnikov I.V., Romanova G.P., Kharitonov V.M., Goodwin W. Importance of the Mezmaiskaya Neanderthal DNA in Paleoanthropology and Genetics // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2009; 1/2009; с. 66-72
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