Among the Neanderthals also redheads

2007/10/29 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Anatomia/Fisiologia
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

According to a study published in the journal Science, some Neanderthals had white skin and red hair. During the study, the only Neanderthal DNA gene of 50,000 years has been studied, the mc1r gene.

The current human being also has this gene and, in certain variants, the proteins that are generated have a lower functionality and these people have a whiter skin.

Neanderthal's DNA has found a variant of this gene that has never been identified in humans (the gene containing this variant has been sought in the DNA of 3,700 people none of them). However, they have seen that the proteins that are formed in the expression of this gene have the same functionality as those that occur in the expression of the gene itself of illegal people.