Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals, finds a new study led by UCL researchers

hobblygobbly · May 12, 2023

Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals

Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

www.ucl.ac.uk

The new Communications Biology study finds that a particular gene, which leads to a taller nose (from top to bottom), may have been the product of natural selection as ancient humans adapted to colder climates after leaving Africa.

Co-corresponding author Dr Kaustubh Adhikari (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment and The Open University) said: "In the last 15 years, since the Neanderthal genome has been sequenced, we have been able to learn that our own ancestors apparently interbred with Neanderthals, leaving us with little bits of their DNA.

Here, we find that some DNA inherited from Neanderthals influences the shape of our faces. This could have been helpful to our ancestors, as it has been passed down for thousands of generations."

The study used data from more than 6,000 volunteers across Latin America, of mixed European, Native American and African ancestry, who are part of the UCL-led CANDELA study, which recruited from Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru. The researchers compared genetic information from the participants to photographs of their faces – specifically looking at distances between points on their faces, such as the tip of the nose or the edge of the lips – to see how different facial traits were associated with the presence of different genetic markers.

The researchers newly identified 33 genome regions associated with face shape, 26 of which they were able to replicate in comparisons with data from other ethnicities using participants in east Asia, Europe, or Africa.

In one genome region in particular, called ATF3, the researchers found that many people in their study with Native American ancestry (as well as others with east Asian ancestry from another cohort) had genetic material in this gene that was inherited from the Neanderthals, contributing to increased nasal height. They also found that this gene region has signs of natural selection, suggesting that it conferred an advantage for those carrying the genetic material.

First author Dr Qing Li (Fudan University) said: "It has long been speculated that the shape of our noses is determined by natural selection; as our noses can help us to regulate the temperature and humidity of the air we breathe in, different shaped noses may be better suited to different climates that our ancestors lived in. The gene we have identified here may have been inherited from Neanderthals to help humans adapt to colder climates as our ancestors moved out of Africa."

Co-corresponding author Professor Andres Ruiz-Linares (Fudan University, UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment, and Aix-Marseille University) added: "Most genetic studies of human diversity have investigated the genes of Europeans; our study's diverse sample of Latin American participants broadens the reach of genetic study findings, helping us to better understand the genetics of all humans."

The finding is the second discovery of DNA from archaic humans, distinct from Homo sapiens, affecting our face shape. The same team discovered in a 2021 paper that a gene influencing lip shape was inherited from the ancient Denisovans.

The study involved researchers based in the UK, China, France, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, and Brazil.

I appreciate how much more research the last years have been going on with Neanderthals in particular, and how much we don't understand about Neanderthals still and how much of them are in us or not in us, and what varying degree (depending on ethnicity), it also shines a light on topics such as back-migration (as to why some ethnicities have some neanderthal dna in modern ethnic groups like some parts of Africa)

Fascinating

Tendo · May 12, 2023

I had to sit at the emergency vet for a few hours last month (pups fine!) but while bored I read the entire wiki article and related articles on neanderthals. I realized I had no idea how much we had learned about them. From society / culture to what tools they had developed, to the genetics still in us. Blew my mind. Like that the MC1R mutation may have first come from them, meaning neanderthals may have been redheads and its been around that long!

I really need to get a book on Neanderthals and dive in and do some more learning. Great thread!

apocat · May 12, 2023

Hey, I finally found my people! Neanderthal and proud!

Brandino · May 12, 2023

So if I call someone with a big noseba Neanderthal, I'm honoring their heritage? And not calling them dumb?

Crispy75 · May 12, 2023

Tendo said:
I had to sit at the emergency vet for a few hours last month (pups fine!) but while bored I read the entire wiki article and related articles on neanderthals. I realized I had no idea how much we had learned about them. From society / culture to what tools they had developed, to the genetics still in us. Blew my mind. Like that the MC1R mutation may have first come from them, meaning neanderthals may have been redheads and its been around that long!

I really need to get a book on Neanderthals and dive in and do some more learning. Great thread!

And they're only the most well known subspecies - Denisovans were just as widespread (in very basic terms, Neanderthals went West out of Africa. Denisovans went East), but their habitats were either poor at preserving remains, or are in places with limited archaeological investigations. We only have a few fragments of bone, but the DNA record says they were a large and diverse population. Their DNA survives in people of South and East Asia, and on into the Pacific.

darz1 · May 12, 2023

Tendo said:
I had to sit at the emergency vet for a few hours last month (pups fine!) but while bored I read the entire wiki article and related articles on neanderthals. I realized I had no idea how much we had learned about them. From society / culture to what tools they had developed, to the genetics still in us. Blew my mind. Like that the MC1R mutation may have first come from them, meaning neanderthals may have been redheads and its been around that long!

I really need to get a book on Neanderthals and dive in and do some more learning. Great thread!

If we descended from intermixing with Neanderthals, then "we" didn't learn from "them", we are them.

AlgusUnderdunk · May 12, 2023

Cool, I finally know where I got my honker from!

IggyChooChoo · May 12, 2023

Brandino said:
So if I call someone with a big noseba Neanderthal, I'm honoring their heritage? And not calling them dumb?

I had an anthropology professor who had a poster of a reconstructed Neanderthal face on the wall next to a picture of Pablo Picasso as a joke because they looked very similar — just call them Picasso-esque.

It wasn't even these specific pictures, but it is funny that it's not hard to find other pics that also kinda work:

"You paint like a caveman" is high praise, it turns out!

Zapages · May 12, 2023

AlgusUnderdunk said:
Cool, I finally know where I got my honker from!

Haha same here! Thank you. Haha 😅

yellowfury · May 12, 2023

honestly very fascinating

Ryuhza · May 12, 2023

Small Red Boy · May 12, 2023

darz1 said:
If we descended from intermixing with Neanderthals, then "we" didn't learn from "them", we are them.

Not really, specially when only about 2% of neanderthal DNA on average is in a modern human individual.

Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals, finds a new study led by UCL researchers

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