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FarCenter

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7. Sex With Neanderthals: The Ultimate Immunity Boost

Sun Apr 1, 2012, 03:55 PM

Apr 2012

Another key contributor to a good immune system is good genes.

Lately, researchers have been asking, Where did these "good genes" come from? The answer: sex with Neanderthals. Well, to be more accurate: ancient interbreeding with Neanderthals and Denisovans gave modern Homo sapiens the ability to fight certain diseases. The journal article, published in Science, is entitled "The Shaping of Modern Human Immune Systems by Multiregional Admixture with Archaic Humans."

...
Based on DNA analysis, Neanderthals and Denisovans had very similar HLA genes. Remarkably, present-day East Asians owe 70-95% of their HLA genes to interbreeding with Denisovans. Present-day Europeans owe roughly half of their HLA genes to interbreeding with Neanderthals. Present-day Africans owe roughly 6% of their HLA to Neanderthals/Denisovans, probably via later generations of hominids who travelled back to Africa. (Sidenote: it is likely that present-day Africans owe some of their immune system to interbreeding with non-Neanderthal/Denisovan early hominid species.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/priya-malhotra/sex-with-neanderthals-the_b_954883.html

Immune system differences are not surprising.

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Who are Blacks? The Rugby Team? HipChick Apr 2012 #1

Ask the AP. They wrote the headline. Iris Apr 2012 #2

In the UK dipsydoodle Apr 2012 #3

It's probably the best term to use muriel_volestrangler Apr 2012 #5

"African-American" is not a synonym for "black". Spider Jerusalem Apr 2012 #6

Not all Black people live in America via Africa HotRodTuna Apr 2012 #8

Interesting. Nt xchrom Apr 2012 #4

Sex With Neanderthals: The Ultimate Immunity Boost FarCenter Apr 2012 #7

All the more reason for young people to get the HPV vaccine NickB79 Apr 2012 #9

You may want to read more before you sign your kid up for the vaccine. davsand Apr 2012 #10

I have read extensively about the HPV vaccine NickB79 Apr 2012 #11

Did you bother to READ those articles or did you dismiss them out of hand? davsand Apr 2012 #12

Relying on VAERS, are we? Watch out you don't turn into the Incredible Hulk NickB79 Apr 2012 #43

Blacks should be cautious about calls for mass inoculations. MD20 Apr 2012 #13

Technically, there are no "pure" white or black genes... antigone382 Apr 2012 #21

Race is horseshit, and therefore racial correlations are horseshit too. bemildred Apr 2012 #14

Ever heard of a caucasian getting sickle cell anemia? Beacool Apr 2012 #15

"Caucasian" is also horseshit. bemildred Apr 2012 #16

I'm not going to argue. Beacool Apr 2012 #18

OK. nt bemildred Apr 2012 #24

Look, it's like thinking if a dog has brown hair, then you know something about it's metabolism. bemildred Apr 2012 #17

If those genetic markers were not evenly distributed in all types of dogs hack89 Apr 2012 #20

Yeah, I know about that, but those are just statistical correlations. bemildred Apr 2012 #22

If I was a public health official hack89 Apr 2012 #27

The problem is that populations don't develop diseases. bemildred Apr 2012 #30

Multifactorial polygenic diseases hack89 Apr 2012 #32

Which still happens only to individuals. bemildred Apr 2012 #33

But two individuals from seperate groups may require different treatments for the same disease. hack89 Apr 2012 #35

I really think we have wrung all the juice out of this for the moment. bemildred Apr 2012 #38

Just think in terms of genetic groups and it is less of an issue. hack89 Apr 2012 #40

That's really all I'm saying, just leave race out of it. bemildred Apr 2012 #41

A very rational position... rayofreason Apr 2012 #42

Genetics determines lots of things. bemildred Apr 2012 #34

Yes they do. hack89 Apr 2012 #36

Here is the argument I'm making: bemildred Apr 2012 #39

Humans are divided into numerous distinct genetic groups called haplogroups. hack89 Apr 2012 #19

Right, and we've been mixing them all together rapidly for the last 500 years. bemildred Apr 2012 #23

Wrong hack89 Apr 2012 #25

A couple of centuries HAVE undone millions of years of evolution already. bemildred Apr 2012 #26

Except genetically halogroups are still there hack89 Apr 2012 #28

There is no evidence that any of those events have impacted the human genome. nt hack89 Apr 2012 #29

Right. bemildred Apr 2012 #31

I wouldn't say millions of years, more like about 100 to 50 thousand years ago when humans... Humanist_Activist Apr 2012 #37

Interesting thread. After a review I tend to agree with Liber-AL Apr 2012 #44

Hey. bemildred Apr 2012 #45

YW Liber-AL Apr 2012 #46