Non-potluck post from The American Journal of Human Genetics: The Contribution of Neanderthals to Phenotypic Variation in Modern Humans

Using the UK Biobank cohort, Dannemann and Kelso were able to identify the association between Neanderthal alleles with 136 common non-disease phenotypes in present-day Europeans. Their analysis demonstrated that Neanderthal DNA affects skin tone and hair color, height, sleeping patterns, mood, and smoking status in present-day Europeans. Another interesting finding was that multiple Neanderthal alleles at multiple loci contributed to these traits in present-day Europeans, especially skin color and hair color, which signals a possible Neanderthal variability in skin color (from lighter to darker color) and hair color.

Link: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0002929717303798/1-s2.0-S0002929717303798-main.pdf?_tid=a3fe13ae-ce2b-4a14-96e2-5ec80855290e&acdnat=1523930800_fd59624d54ae5368b5e69bd9fab2ec15

-Sylvain

Second post from The American Journal of Human Genetics