"Researchers in China have analysed proteins from the tooth enamel of six fossils dating back around 400,000 years five men and one woman found at sites across much of the country from north to south. They were able to recover two proteins, and one of them the M273V variant of the enamel protein ameloblastin is key. The results show that this protein is present in all the fossils analyzed, which belonged to our ancestor Homo erectus."
"The same compound had previously been identified in the teeth of another human group, the Denisovans close relatives of Neanderthals, themselves the species most closely related to our own. The finding implies that, at some point around 400,000 years ago, Homo erectus, which originated in Africa, and the Denisovans, a human population adapted to Eurasia, encountered one another, had sex, and produced fertile offspring."
"It is the oldest known episode of interbreeding between human groups, and the first to feature Homo erectus, a species that until recently had been largely overlooked. The results were published on Wednesday in Nature. Homo erectus was the f"
Proteins recovered from tooth enamel of six fossils dated to about 400,000 years ago show a shared enamel protein variant, M273V of ameloblastin, across all analyzed Homo erectus individuals. The same protein variant had previously been found in Denisovan teeth, linking the two human groups. The presence of this variant implies that Homo erectus and Denisovans encountered each other, interbred, and produced fertile offspring. This represents the oldest known episode of interbreeding between human groups and the first evidence involving Homo erectus, a species previously less emphasized in such findings. The results support the idea that human evolutionary relationships were not strictly separate lineages.
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