Neanderthal genome inherited by humans, study says
SAN FRANCISCO -- It's a tale of romance from the Ice Age - and its consequences today.
Long ago, in a part of the world now known as Europe, early modern humans lived alongside the Neanderthal people - and they interbred.
A fast-growing population of modern humans eventually drove the Neanderthals to extinction 30,000 years ago, but the benefits of those early dalliances between the two groups live on.
The Neanderthals, it seems, passed on to humans many of the genes that now mark our greatly improved immune systems, according to an international team of researchers led by a Stanford group.
The researchers, deciphering the genome of fossil Neanderthals and modern humans, report they have found in both a major group of matching immune system genes - genes the scientists say we inherited from our stocky Ice Age predecessors.
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