The proteome of the late Middle Pleistocene Harbin individual
Denisovans are a hominin group primarily known through genomes or proteins, but their precise morphological features remain elusive because of the fragmentary nature of the discovered fossils. Here, we report 95 endogenous proteins retrieved from a nearly complete cranium from Harbin, China, dating to at least 146,000 years ago and previously assigned to a new species, <i>Homo longi</i>. This individual has three Denisovan-derived amino acid variants and clusters with Denisova 3, suggesting that the Harbin individual belongs to a Denisovan population. This study fills the gap between morphological and molecular evidence, enhancing our understanding of Denisovans' spatiotemporal dispersal and evolutionary history.
Authors
- Fan Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2045-366X)
- Shaokun Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3289-9415)
- Aoran Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3847-9726)
- Qiaomei Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7141-0002)
- Huiyun Rao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7901-8243)
- Yannan Ji
- Feng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4177-9845)
- E. Andrew Bennett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3827-0711)
- Qiang Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2896-9919)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hebei GEO University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-06-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu9677
- Citations
- 19
- Primary Topic
- Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 215.57