Abstract
Denisovans, a group of now extinct humans who lived in Eastern Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene, were first identified from DNA sequences just over a decade ago. Only ten fragmentary remains from two sites have been attributed to Denisovans based entirely on molecular information. Nevertheless, there has been great interest in using genetic data to understand Denisovans and their place in human history. From the reconstruction of a single high-quality genome, it has been possible to infer their population history, including events of admixture with other human groups. Additionally, the identification of Denisovan DNA in the genomes of present-day individuals has provided insights into the timing and routes of dispersal of ancient modern humans into Asia and Oceania, as well as the contributions of archaic DNA to the physiology of present-day people. In this Review, we synthesize more than a decade of research on Denisovans, reconcile controversies and summarize insights into their population history and phenotype. We also highlight how our growing knowledge about Denisovans has provided insights into our own evolutionary history.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank B. Viola for providing the photographs of Denisovan remains used in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, and R. Barr for help preparing Fig. 1. They thank S. Pääbo and M. Stoneking for many helpful discussions and for their comments on the manuscript. This project was funded by the Max Planck Society and the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 694707). V.S. acknowledges funding from the Alon Fellowship.
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Nature Reviews Genetics thanks Omer Gokcumen, who co-reviewed with Alber Aqil, and Mattias Jakobsson, Lluís Quintana-Murci and Shuhua Xu for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Glossary
- Admixture
-
The interbreeding of individuals from two or more previously isolated populations.
- Gene flow
-
The transfer of genetic material from one population to another through interbreeding.
- Genetic drift
-
The random fluctuation in the frequency of genetic variants in a population over time.
- Heterozygosity
-
The presence of two different alleles at a genomic locus.
- Homozygous by descent
-
When both parents share a genomic segment from a recent common ancestor.
- Introgression
-
The acquisition of genetic material from a genetically distinct population.
- Melanesians
-
Present-day Indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea, the Solomon islands, New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu. While the geographic descriptor ‘Melanesia’ should be avoided given its colonialist origin, the term ‘Melanesians’ is widely used by present-day people in the region to describe themselves.
- Negritos
-
Several ethnic groups indigenous to the Andaman Islands, the Malaysian Peninsula, the Philippines and Thailand. Although the term has colonialist origins, these groups today self-identify as Negrito.
- Negative selection
-
The selective removal of deleterious alleles in a population.
- Positive selection
-
The selective increase in the frequency of a beneficial allele in a population.
- Wallace’s line
-
An imaginary boundary separating the biogeographical regions of Asia and Australia.
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Peyrégne, S., Slon, V. & Kelso, J. More than a decade of genetic research on the Denisovans. Nat Rev Genet 25, 83–103 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00643-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00643-4
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