Thanks to interbreeding, just 7% of our DNA is unique to modern humans, study shows

[Klaralven]

What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step toward solving an enduring mystery with a new tool that may allow for more precise comparisons between the DNA of modern humans and that of our extinct ancestors.

Just 7% of our genome is uniquely shared with other humans, and not shared by other early ancestors, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

“That’s a pretty small percentage,” said study lead author Nathan Schaefer, a computational biologist now at UC San Francisco. “This kind of finding is why scientists are turning away from thinking that we humans are so vastly different from Neanderthals.”

...

The researchers also found that an even smaller fraction of our genome — just 1.5% — is both unique to our species and shared among all people alive today. Those slivers of DNA may hold the most significant clues as to what truly distinguishes modern human beings.

https://archive.is/Rs62D

An ancestral recombination graph of human, Neanderthal, and Denisovan genomes

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/29/eabc0776

[brewens]

1. Thanks to inbreeding, 35% of Americans can't comprehend this or think evolution is

fraud.

[Lochloosa]

2. I thought this would be an article an about the South.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

3. As far as I know, I don't have any

ancestors who were Republicans.

I do have close to 3% Neanderthal DNA, however, but because they are extinct, I suspect they were wiped out by early religio-fascist homo sapiens.

[hlthe2b]

4. Hybrid Vigor... the only thing that MIGHT save us...