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Researchers at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) have first identified the blood group of two individuals Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), at the site of El asturiano Sidrón. The multidisciplinary team working on the prehistoric site was discovered that the two men who lived more than 43,000 years ago were blood group 0, which shows that the genetic mutation that defines the group 0 was shared by the Neanderthals and modern
humans and had to be inherited from the common ancestor of both species.

Investigators recovered fragments of the gene involved in the AB0 blood group in two individuals of the Neanderthals Sidrón, from analysis of nuclear DNA of their fossil remains, and found that they had the same mutation that determines the blood group 0 present in humans.

The researcher at the Center for Research and Development Pascual Vila (CSIC) in Barcelona, Carles Lalueza, first author of the article published this week by the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, continues: "The fact that some Neanderthals were in group 0 might indicate that were adapted to a pathogen with which they have come into contact during his long stay in Eurasia. These pathogens, unknown so far, would not necessarily be the same influence on the current human population. "

Individuals of group 0 have no antigens in the membrane of red blood cells, which could mean greater resistance to some diseases such as severe malaria, since certain pathogens use these antigens as points of recognition of the cell that will infect .

"This is the first gene found in Neanderthals that may be associated with disease resistance," says Antonio Rosas, CSIC paleobiólogo and coauthor of the study.

For Rose, who works in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC) in Madrid: "Studying the evolution of blood groups in fossil species is of great help to understand what the selective forces that have shaped the evolution of hominids . sapiens have three variants of the genetic system determining AB0 four different blood types: A, B, AB and 0.

It is estimated that the lineages of Neanderthals and modern humans split makes at least half a million years. When this mutation could occur then? "We do not know for sure when the genetic mutation could occur, but had to pass through the separation of human and chimpacés makes 6 to 7 million years, and the common ancestor that lived more than half a million years," says Lalueza.

The reliability of genetic testing of the site asturiano, excavated under the direction of Javier Fortea, and co-field framework of Rasillo, both researchers at the University of Oviedo, is the protocol for the extraction of clean fossil resources hue, free of modern DNA contamination. Contamination by modern human DNA, such as the excavators and researchers, is one of the great problems of ancient DNA studies. "This protocol is unique and marks a turning point in the paleontological archaeological excavation," explains Rose.