How Neanderthals lost their Y chromosome | Science | AAAS

How Neanderthals lost their Y chromosome | Science | AAAS

How Neanderthals lost their Y chromosome

Neanderthals’ Y chromosome looks a lot like ours, despite much of their nuclear genome more closely matching a different human lineage, the Denisovans. The mystery persisted because very few complete male Neanderthal genomes have been recovered. Now researchers have used an innovative technique to probe some partial male Neanderthal genomes. The scientists found evidence that early modern human men mated with Neanderthal women more than 100,000 but less than 370,000 years ago, and their sons passed the modern Y through their offspring, replacing the Neanderthal Y.

Science | 5 min readReference: Science paper