Nature
DNA of 7000-year-old European Reveals Dark skin and Blue Eyes.
Vanishree Bhatt
First Posted: Jan 28, 2014 10:11 AM EST
Bones of a 7000-year-old man found in a Spanish cave revealed that he was dark-skinned with dark hair and light-blue eyes.
The DNA analysis of the bone extract showed that the Mesolithic man was a hunter-gatherer with probable lactose intolerance and lived on a starchy diet.
Scientists mentioned in the journal Nature that the unique combination of hair and eyes coloring was not unusual during the lifetime of the ancient man. The study says that this genome pattern existed across central and western Eurasia from the upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic. This was a transitional phase where the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was paving way for a more settled agricultural lifestyle.
The remains of the man were found in 2006 in the La Braña Arintero cave complex in North West Spain. The scientists isolated the DNA and studied the genome pattern and identified certain traits like its lactose intolerance, starch digestion and immune response. Their biggest surprise was discovering his skin pigmentation, which indicated African rather than European variations. After looking into this unique genome, Carles Lalueza-Fox, a member of the research team from the Spanish National Research Council, mentioned in a news release about his skin color, " we cannot know the exact shade." The researcher also discovered that the man had blue eyes. " This was unexpected " said Lalueza-Fox , because mutation for blue eyes was more recent than the mutations that resulted in lighter skin tone.
Spanish researchers have taken this forward by comparing the genome of the Mesolithic man to those of modern Europeans living in different regions of Europe. The DNA makeup of people from Sweden and Finland closely matched making them the closest descendants of the 7000- year-old European.
The team emphasizes that further research from genomes from the same era is needed.
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First Posted: Jan 28, 2014 10:11 AM EST
Bones of a 7000-year-old man found in a Spanish cave revealed that he was dark-skinned with dark hair and light-blue eyes.
The DNA analysis of the bone extract showed that the Mesolithic man was a hunter-gatherer with probable lactose intolerance and lived on a starchy diet.
Scientists mentioned in the journal Nature that the unique combination of hair and eyes coloring was not unusual during the lifetime of the ancient man. The study says that this genome pattern existed across central and western Eurasia from the upper Paleolithic to the Mesolithic. This was a transitional phase where the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was paving way for a more settled agricultural lifestyle.
The remains of the man were found in 2006 in the La Braña Arintero cave complex in North West Spain. The scientists isolated the DNA and studied the genome pattern and identified certain traits like its lactose intolerance, starch digestion and immune response. Their biggest surprise was discovering his skin pigmentation, which indicated African rather than European variations. After looking into this unique genome, Carles Lalueza-Fox, a member of the research team from the Spanish National Research Council, mentioned in a news release about his skin color, " we cannot know the exact shade." The researcher also discovered that the man had blue eyes. " This was unexpected " said Lalueza-Fox , because mutation for blue eyes was more recent than the mutations that resulted in lighter skin tone.
Spanish researchers have taken this forward by comparing the genome of the Mesolithic man to those of modern Europeans living in different regions of Europe. The DNA makeup of people from Sweden and Finland closely matched making them the closest descendants of the 7000- year-old European.
The team emphasizes that further research from genomes from the same era is needed.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone