Neanderthals had our de novo genes

John Stewart Taylor

In 2009 Knowles and McLysaght reported the discovery of three human genes derived from non-coding DNA. They provided evidence that these genes, CLUU1, C22orf45, and DNAH10OS, were transcribed and translated, they identified orthologous non-coding DNA in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and macaque (Macaca mulatta), and for each gene they located the critical ?enabler? mutations that extended the open reading frames (ORFs) allowing the production of a protein. These genes had no BLASTp hits in any other genome and were considered to be novel human genes, possibly responsible for human-specific traits. Since the discovery of these genes, new high quality Denisovan and Neanderthal genomes have been reported. I used these resources in an effort to determine whether or not CLUU1, C22orf45, and DNAH10OS were truly human-specific.