No Sex Please, We're Neandertals

摘要

Did Neandertals and modern humans interbreed? Last year, that question took on new life when two groups of researchers reported the first results from sequencing parts of a Neandertal's nuclear genome. The answer, however, was equivocal: One group reported no evidence of interbreeding; the other reported tantalizing hints of mating (Science, 17 November 2006, p. 1068). Now, a paper presented last week at the Biology of Genomes meeting here gives the evidence a strong shove in the direction of the no-sex camp.