O DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic Acid, is an essential molecule that carries the genetic information of all known living beings.
Therefore, it is considered the molecule of life due to its fundamental role in heredity and the transmission of genetic information from one generation to the next. It is possible to obtain many answers through DNA analysis.
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In this sense, a study involving the DNA of 3,154 living people, conducted in China, revealed that the primates ancestral to modern humans were on the brink of extinction about 930 thousand years ago.
In that historical context, the population decreased to less than 1,300 individuals, some of whom left descendants in Africa. Scientists employed a technique known as a “molecular clock.”
The molecular clock used in research
This type of approach is used to estimate the age of genetic variations that arise in a population, based on the assessment of genetic variability observed in the contemporary population.
To apply such a technique, scientists analyze genetic diversity in a contemporary population and identify specific genetic variations that have occurred over time.
Based on the known mutation rate, they can estimate when such genetic variations first emerged. This, in turn, provides information about population sizes in different historical periods.
In the study, researchers employed a new method of analyzing genomic data to assess the size of a population that existed at a distant period in the past.
The goal was to understand more precisely how much genetic diversity was present in this ancestral population. The innovation of the research lies in the remarkable accuracy achieved in estimating the size of this ancient population.
The study leader, Wangjie Hu, is a Chinese scientist who currently works at the Icahn School of Medicine, associated with the renowned Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
(Image: disclosure)
As reported in an article published in the journal Science, hominids from the Pleistocene period experienced a significant reduction in their population, which lasted less than 120 thousand years, before they began to recovering.
One possible explanation for this event is that hominins faced a regional climate change to which they were not well adapted.
The population began to recover about 813,000 years ago, around the same time that scientists believe the first primates mastered the use of fire.
The Chinese researchers say the recovery period is in line with the lack of hominin fossil discoveries in Africa, which strengthens the validity of their estimate.
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