Redhead Neanderthals
At least one per cent of Neanderthals had ginger hair and fair skin
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Friday, 26, Oct 2007 09:12
Redheads have been alive on the planet as far back as the time of Neanderthals, scientists claim.
An international team of researchers believe that at least one per cent of Neanderthals - relatives of modern man - had ginger hair and fair skin.
They studied ancient DNA retrieved from the bones of two Neanderthals; a 43,000-year-old Neanderthal from Spain and a 50,000-year-old individual from Italy.
Writing in the journal Science today, the researchers say they sequenced a gene that is linked to red hair and pale skin.
The two Neanderthals had a point mutation not seen in humans; when this mutation was induced in human cells they found this mutation impaired activity of the 'red-head gene'.
The researchers then tested their theory against the genes of 3,700 people. None showed the mutation, suggesting that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens followed different evolutionary paths to the same redheaded appearance.
Scientists behind the discovery also found in previous studies the mutation that caused some woolly mammoths to be white and are now seeking to identify genetic changes responsible for pigment variation in other extant and extinct species.
"It has only recently become possible to decipher the genomes of species which became extinct thousands of years ago," lead researcher Holger Rompler said.
"The methods used in these Neanderthal and mammoth studies could provide new insights into the coloration of other extinct hominids, animals, and plants."