In 2019 an Israel-based team sought to tackle the boundary between morphology and molecules using one of the most enigmatic human ancestors: Denisovans. Paradoxically known better from their DNA than from their fossils, this team wanted to see what would happen if they tried to work backwards and reconstruct a hypothetical Denisovan body using deferentially methylated regions of the genome that are linked to specific phenotypic traits. The team tested this method on chimpanzees and Neanderthals with ~85% accuracy, and project what they think a Denisovan would look like. Their results present a Denisovan skull broadly similar to the Neanderthal hypodigm with subtle differences illustrated above, such as a broader cranium, longer tooth row, and more robust jaw than Neanderthals.
Ryan McRae
Potluck 2/25/20
https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(19)30954-7.pdf
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