Neandertal Genome Project

For those that haven’t heard yet, a project to sequence the Neadertal genome has been announced. The company doing it has a very nice press release available with a set of resources on the project. They also have a nice brief background (pdf format) on Neandertals.

What I found so amazing about this whole project is the ambitious goal of sequencing a genome from bones that long ago belonged to the deceased. Indeed, some of the main challenges to the project are dealing with very short pieces of DNA (something that happens as bones fossilize and decay) as well as lots of contamination from bacterial DNA. From what I gathered, the whole thing wouldn’t have even been possible if not for recent advances in sequencing technology.

I found the following particularly interesting.

Approximately 99% of the Homo sapiens genome is identical to the chimpanzee genome, our closest living relative. It is estimated that the Neandertal shares 96% of the 1% difference with Homo sapiens. The Neandertal shares the remaining 4% of the difference with the chimpanzee.

It will be fascinating to see what we learn about our own evolution, and what genes have undergone recent selection within the human genome, by getting something inbetween chimpanzees and humans to compare with. I also immediately wondered if it would be possible to get gene sequences from even older fossil species. I’m guessing that the older a fossil is, the less there is to work with. Still, I had no idea that sequencing a Neandertal genome was even a remote possibility.

For a little more insightful commentary, the anthropologist John Hawk’s blog has a write up on the project.

Update: I also noticed that the Questionable Authority has some nice comments on the project, explaining just how the genome comparisions can be put to use.