Some people from Oceania harbor thousands of genetic variants inherited from the Denisovans — a mysterious group of extinct humans — that are still active in their immune systems today, a new study finds.
The findings, published June 11 in the journal Science, come from the largest-ever map of Denisovan-inherited DNA ever created. The discovery shows that Denisovan DNA "is not just a remnant of ancient liaisons; it continues to influence our biology today," study co-author Serena Tucci, an assistant professor of anthropology and head of the Human Evolutionary Genomics Laboratory at Yale University, said in a statement.
