Scientists are reconstructing the genome of Neanderthals - the close relations of modern man.

The ambitious project involves isolating genetic fragments from fossils of the prehistoric beings who originally inhabited Europe to map their complete DNA.

The Neanderthal people (info) were believed to have died out about 35,000 years ago - at a time when modern humans were advancing across the continent.

Lead researcher Dr Svante Paabo (homepage), an evolutionary geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said: 'This would be the first time we have sequenced the entire genome of an extinct organism.'

...But the prospect of the genome providing the blueprint for resurrecting a living "Jurassic-Park-style" Neanderthal is unlikely.

Continued at "Scientists Create Neanderthal Genome"

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See "Neanderthal Genome To Be Deciphered"

And the following paper:

Nature Reviews Genetics 7, 693-702 (September 2006) | doi:10.1038/nrg1940 Evolution of primate gene expression: Abstract | Full Text | Pdf by Philipp Khaitovich, Wolfgang Enard, Michael Lachmann and Svante Paabo

Books on Neanderthals from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

Books on Human Origins from the Science and Evolution Bookshop: UK | US

[Neandertal, Neandertals]

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