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Redhead Neanderthals

Taffer

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Just spotted this interesting news item.

Ancient DNA retrieved from the bones of two Neanderthals suggests that at least some of them had red hair and pale skin, scientists report in the journal Science. The international team says that Neanderthals' pigmentation may even have been as varied as that of modern humans, and that at least 1 percent of Neanderthals were likely redheads.
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Genetics is so cool. :D
 
I heard that on the news the other day, but what intrigued me was that as far as I was concerned it wasn't new. I remember a news item a few years ago suggesting that modern humans with red hair get that from Neanderthal genes, and that indicated that Neanderthals had simply interbred with Cro-Magnons rather than becoming extinct.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
I heard that on the news the other day, but what intrigued me was that as far as I was concerned it wasn't new. I remember a news item a few years ago suggesting that modern humans with red hair get that from Neanderthal genes, and that indicated that Neanderthals had simply interbred with Cro-Magnons rather than becoming extinct.

Rolfe.
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I know what you're saying. However, I don't think there was ever any direct evidence that Neanderthals exhibited red hair. IIRC it was just assumed, from similar ecological ranges and the like.
 
Rolfe said:
I heard that on the news the other day, but what intrigued me was that as far as I was concerned it wasn't new. I remember a news item a few years ago suggesting that modern humans with red hair get that from Neanderthal genes, and that indicated that Neanderthals had simply interbred with Cro-Magnons rather than becoming extinct.

Rolfe.
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Any chance you can dig this up Rolfe? That sounds pretty earth-shattering stuff to me - I didn't think there was any evidence of interbreeding, entirely plausible though it seems to me. (My, what a smashing...brow-ridge you have my dear. Fancy a shag?) :D
 
Its my guess that what interbreeding was done if any was done by Cro magnon men with Neanderthal women. I've heard that red hair was a Neanderthal trait myself. Cro magnon men may have liked the strong neanderthal ladies in those days. If memory serves me correctly wasn't there a grave excavated somewhere where they uncovered the remains of what appeared to be a cro magnon neanderthal mix? The child was buried ritually so its my guess he was loved by both parents.
 
Redheadedness in any species is greatly to be desired and fervently to be advanced.
 
Now that you mention it, my red headed nephew seems kind of primitive. I thought it was just because hes a teen ager...
 
Oh dear, we're getting perilously close to the genetics of why Prince Harry happens to look the way he does....

Les, I really can't remember anything about the earlier story, only that it was about red hair being a Neanderthal trait and modern read-heads getting the gene from Neanderthal ancestry. I expect it was mostly speculation, based on a little snippet of fact - these things usually are.

Rolfe.
 
OK, I'll go there. Is he really Mini-Hewitt? Or is there a weird genetic reason that he could be as ginger as a packet of popular crunchy ginger-based biscuits?
 
Rolfe said:
Oh dear, we're getting perilously close to the genetics of why Prince Harry happens to look the way he does....

Les, I really can't remember anything about the earlier story, only that it was about red hair being a Neanderthal trait and modern read-heads getting the gene from Neanderthal ancestry. I expect it was mostly speculation, based on a little snippet of fact - these things usually are.

Rolfe.
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If you read the link I provided, you'll see that the mutation which lead to redheaded-ness in Neanderthals is unique, and not found in humans as far as they were aware.
 
Rolfe said:
I heard that on the news the other day, but what intrigued me was that as far as I was concerned it wasn't new. I remember a news item a few years ago suggesting that modern humans with red hair get that from Neanderthal genes, and that indicated that Neanderthals had simply interbred with Cro-Magnons rather than becoming extinct.

Rolfe.
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This study indicates that the Neanderthal red head gene is different from the human one, so it is not evidence for interbreeding.

ETA: Oops. Missed Taffer's post at the end. Sorry.
 
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Ah. That'll teach me just to listen to the headlines. Sorry. Thanks for the extra information.

Les, you have to have the gene for red hair from both the mother and the father to end up carrot-topped. Doesn't prove anything about Hewitt (but look at the kid - what do you think?), but it does raise the question of just where in Charles's family any red-hair gene might have come from.

And the first one that says "Elizabeth of England" will be taken out and shot.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
Ah. That'll teach me just to listen to the headlines. Sorry. Thanks for the extra information.

Les, you have to have the gene for red hair from both the mother and the father to end up carrot-topped. Doesn't prove anything about Hewitt (but look at the kid - what do you think?), but it does raise the question of just where in Charles's family any red-hair gene might have come from.

And the first one that says "Elizabeth of England" will be taken out and shot.

Rolfe.
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But remember that, as a resessive gene, a person can have one "red" allele and not actually have red hair. Thus, you likely cannot tell by phenotype alone if the parents carried the "red" allele.
 
True. One of my school friends had flaming red hair, but both her parents and her sister were mouse-haired. However, both her grandmothers were redheads.

That's why I asked where in Charles's family do we see evidence of a redhaired gene. It tends to show itself one way or another if it's there.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
True. One of my school friends had flaming red hair, but both her parents and her sister were mouse-haired. However, both her grandmothers were redheads.

That's why I asked where in Charles's family do we see evidence of a redhaired gene. It tends to show itself one way or another if it's there.

Rolfe.
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Indeed.

Although, I believe that only a certain fraction (IIRC quite high) have red hair from the same gene. I.e. in some, the red hair comes from another mechanism (most likely, another mutant allele).

Pigmentation is a facinating subject. For more weirdness, there is a part of the brain (the substantia nigra) which contains a large number of melanocytes. The inner ear also contains a lot of melanin.
 
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