A particular gene in humans leading to a taller nose from top to bottom was inherited from Neanderthals, new research has found.
This may have been the product of natural selection as ancient humans adapted to colder climates after leaving Africa, researchers from the University College London (UCL), UK, said. Having been passed down for thousands of generations, the researchers said in the study, they found that some DNA inherited from Neanderthals influenced the shape of our faces and that it could have been helpful to our ancestors. In the last 15 years, since the Neanderthal genome has been sequenced, scientists have learnt that our ancestors apparently interbred with Neanderthals, leaving us with little bits of their DNA.
The scientists from UCL have published their international study in the journal Communications Biology.