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Foxxification Of This Story?
Wed Aug 15 01:50:10 BST 2012 by Julian Mann
If you would care to take a look at the NS article 21.1.2009. by Graham Lawton(amongst others) an opinion is expressed there that 40 to 50 per cent of the human genome got there by HGT. Therefore the chances are actually quite high that Neanderthals and humans living in close proximity, could have picked up the same genes from an external source via an intermediary, without there having been any cross-breeding at all. With regard to the geographically separated humans, one would have expected vertical gene transfer to have passed on these Neanderthal genes over an extended period of time, via human/human mating. As that has not happened, particularly after the Neanderthal die out,you would need to re-consider the relative importance of VGT in this process. Perhaps HGT was after all the bigger player and accounts for all of the common genes.