1.Answer the following questions based on the assigned article "Human Hybrids" by Michael Hammer.
a. Initial analyses of mitochondrial DNA did not find any evidence of interbreeding between Neandertals and modern humans. We now know, however, that they did interbreed. Why might these early mtDNA studies have found this confusing result?
b.According to the article by Hammer, contemporary genetic analyses, showing that Neandertals and Archaic humans made at least some contribution to the modern human gene pool, favor a Hybridization model of human evolution. How is the Hybridization model different from the Replacement model and the Assimilation model?
c.In what way might Neandertal DNA contributions have been evolutionarily advantageous for modern humans?
01: There are to date only a dozen or so mtDNA sequences that have been sampled. Because the current sample of Neanderthal mtDNA is so small, it is possible that researchers simply have not yet found the mtDNA in Neanderthals that corresponds to that of modern humans. And also, the Neanderthal mtDNA sequences were not particularly genetically diverse.
02: The Replacement model asserts that there was a single origin of Homo sapiens in Africa and that these anatomically modern humansmigrated out from Africa and replaced all other less evolved humans throughout Europe and Asia - hence the name, Replacement model
The Assimilation Model (AM) was developed to explain the presence of evidence for small, but not insignificant, anatomical contributions of Eurasian archaic humans (including Neandertals) to modern Eurasians within a framework of the documented African origin of the majority of modern Eurasian ancestry.
Both above models of evolution are with little or no hybridization, while hybridization model proposes some interbreeding with archaic indigenous populations but with relatively minor effects
03: The complete mtDNA sequence allowed researchers to compare this Neanderthal mtDNA to modern human mtDNA to see if any modern humans carried the mtDNA from a related group to the Neanderthal group. Further, analysis also showed that this Neanderthal DNA was closely related to both modern humans, there was only a very small margin by which Neanderthal DNA differed exclusively from modern humans.
1.Answer the following questions based on the assigned article "Human Hybrids" by Michael Hammer. a. Initial analyses of mitochondrial DNA did not find any evidence of interbreeding between Ne...