A mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from Sima de los Huesos

• Published in: Nature (London) 2014-01, Vol.505 (7483), p.403-406
• Main Authors: Meyer, Matthias, Fu, Qiaomei, Aximu-Petri, Ayinuer, Glocke, Isabelle, Nickel, Birgit, Arsuaga, Juan-Luis, Martínez, Ignacio, Gracia, Ana, de Castro, José María Bermúdez, Carbonell, Eudald, Pääbo, Svante
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 45/22; 45/23; 45/47; 631/181/2474; 631/208/182; Animals; Bayes Theorem; Consensus Sequence - genetics; Cytosine - metabolism; Deamination; DNA sequencing; DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics; Femur - anatomy & histology; Femur - metabolism; Fossils; Genetic aspects; Genetic research; Genome, Mitochondrial - genetics; Genomics; Hominidae - anatomy & histology; Hominidae - classification; Hominidae - genetics; Hominids; Homo heidelbergensis; Humanities and Social Sciences; letter; Mitochondrial DNA; Molecular Sequence Data; multidisciplinary; Neanderthals; Neanderthals - genetics; Nucleotide sequencing; Phylogeny; Science; Spain
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature12788

A full mitochondrial genome from a 400,000-year-old Middle Pleistocene hominin from Spain unexpectedly reveals a close relationship to Denisovans, a sister group to the Neanderthals, raising interesting questions about the origins of Neanderthals and Denisovans. Early hominin mtDNA from Atapuerca The human remains from the 'Sima de los Huesos' ('pit of bones') cave in Atapuerca, Spain, are of particular importance as they are from the poorly known Middle Pleistocene period, dating to more than 400,000 years ago. Now a near-complete genome sequence has been obtained from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a well-preserved femur from the collection, the oldest hominin genetic material so far recovered. Although Sima de los Huesos remains are often thought to represent a population close to the Neanderthal ancestry, the mtDNA suggests links with the still-enigmatic Denisovans of eastern Eurasia. It could be that the mtDNA is referring us to even earlier times, highlighting a common ancestor for Denisovans, Neanderthals and the Sima de los Huesos hominins, conventionally regarded as Homo heidelbergensis . Excavations of a complex of caves in the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain have unearthed hominin fossils that range in age from the early Pleistocene to the Holocene 1 . One of these sites, the ‘Sima de los Huesos’ (‘pit of bones’), has yielded the world’s largest assemblage of Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils 2 , 3 , consisting of at least 28 individuals 4 dated to over 300,000 years ago 5 . The skeletal remains share a number of morphological features with fossils classified as Homo heidelbergensis and also display distinct Neanderthal-derived traits 6 , 7 , 8 . Here we determine an almost complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from Sima de los Huesos and show that it is closely related to the lineage leading to mitochondrial genomes of Denisovans 9 , 10 , an eastern Eurasian sister group to Neanderthals. Our results pave the way for DNA research on hominins from the Middle Pleistocene.