Genetic 'Ghost' Lineage Found in Modern Human DNA

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University analyzed the genomes of 503 individuals to identify unusually old genetic branches. While previous research confirmed that non-African populations possess roughly 2 percent archaic DNA—largely split between Neanderthals and Denisovans—this study isolated a mysterious lineage accounting for up to 1 percent of the genome. This "ghost" group appears to have diverged from the human family tree more than 500,000 years ago.

The findings are particularly significant because these segments were detected in regions previously assumed to be exclusively modern, including areas near the FOXP2 gene linked to speech. Patrick F. Reilly, a computational biologist at Yale University, noted that while the methodology offers a new lens for evolutionary research, the results require further validation to rule out potential false positives. If substantiated, this discovery suggests that the history of human interbreeding is significantly more intricate than current models reflect.