There are Neanderthal bones. Denisovan remains. Fossils from ancient relatives of our species. Each specimen gives us another piece of the story of how Homo sapiens came to be.

But now imagine that one of the most important characters in that story has left behind no fossil, no skull, no bone, and no genome.

Nothing that a paleontologist could put behind glass.

And yet, somehow, that ancient population is still speaking.

It is speaking through us.

A fascinating new study published in Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aef8874?) introduces a computational method called TRACE, which allows scientists to search modern human genomes for genetic traces of ancient populations that have never been directly identified.

For years, scientists have known that our ancestors interacted with Neanderthals and Denisovans. Their DNA still survives in modern human populations. But these may not have been the only ancient humans who crossed paths with our ancestors.

Using TRACE, researchers found evidence of an unknown archaic population that contributed DNA to the ancestors of modern humans before humans spread beyond Africa.

Even more surprisingly, they found evidence of a much older lineage—possibly around 1.8 million years old—whose genetic legacy may have reached some modern humans indirectly through Denisovans.

The extraordinary part is that researchers did not need DNA from these mysterious populations to detect them. Instead, they studied the ancestry of modern genomes and looked for genetic patterns that revealed unusually ancient branches of our family history.

It is almost like finding the footprints of someone who disappeared thousands of years ago—without ever finding the person themselves.

These discoveries suggest that human evolution was far more complicated than a simple family tree. Ancient human populations repeatedly separated, migrated, met and exchanged genes. Some eventually disappeared, but pieces of their genetic legacy survived.

And that means our DNA is more than a biological instruction manual.

It is also an archive of human history.

Some of the people recorded in that archive may never have a name or a fossil. But thanks to methods like TRACE, their genetic echoes are finally becoming visible.

The next big discovery about our ancient past may not come from a fossil in the ground.

It may already be inside us.

Reference: Zhang et al., “Recovering signatures of archaic hominin introgression using ancestral recombination graphs,” Science (2026), DOI: 10.1126/science.aef8874. Detail paper @ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aef8874?

The TRACE repository (https://github.com/YulinZhang9806/trace) contains the Python package and command-line tools used to infer archaic admixture tracts from ancestral recombination graphs.

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Instead of asking only whether two genes occur together across genomes, CORGIAS asks a deeper question: did these genes actually evolve together, repeatedly gaining or losing their presence in concert, or are they merely travelling together because of their inherited history? The framework introduces two complementary approaches, Ancestral State Adjustment (ASA) and the Simultaneous EVolution test (SEV), which incorporate evolutionary information into the search for gene associations. This distinction becomes increasingly important as genome sequencing continues to uncover enormous numbers of microbial genomes, many from organisms that have never been cultured and whose genes remain functionally mysterious. In this growing genomic landscape, simply finding a gene is no longer enough—we need clues about what that gene might be doing. CORGIAS approaches this problem almost like a genomic detective: rather than treating every association as evidence, it reconstructs the evolutionary story behind the association and asks whether the evidence survives that history. By doing so, it offers a way to separate coincidence from biological connection and potentially uncover functional relationships hidden within the vast microbial genomic landscape. The broader message is beautifully simple: genes do not evolve in isolation, and understanding what they do may require us to look beyond where they are today and reconstruct how they arrived there. Sometimes, the most important clue in a genome is not the gene itself, but the evolutionary journey it has taken.

More at https://academic.oup.com/nargab/article/7/4/lqaf182/8377910?

To understand the evolution of the biodiversity seen on planet earth is one of the major goals in biology. How animals explored new habitats from only being confined to the marine environment and the how the forms diversified is still one of the most tremendous questions to be answered.

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New Delhi-110012

Walk in interview

Eligible candidates may appear for Walk-in interview for the temporary positions of JRF/SRF/ RA, in ICAR, DBT funded research projects. Positions are purely temporary in nature and are co-terminus with the projects. The initial appointment will be for maximum one year, which can be extended on the basis of assessment of the candidate performance and need in the project work (PI-Dr. N. K. Singh, National Professor).

Name of the

PI (Project)

Name of

Position

Number of

positions

Emoluments

Fixed per

month (Rs.)

Essential

Qualifications

DBT-“Physical Mapping and Sample sequencing of Wheat Chromosome 2A- International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (India)”.

(Up to Nov,2014)

DBT- Identification and functional analysis of genes related to yield and biotic stresses (Up to Oct,2014)

NPTC-Central Facility

RA (Master)

JRF/SRF

Research Associate: One

Essential: MCA or M. Tech. (Bioinformatics and computer Science with 2 years experience in Database Management with

MySQL, Linux)

Desirable: Proficiency in handling of large biological databases

Age limit: Max. Age 35 years (Age of relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST& woman. and 3 years for OBC). The interview will be held on 08 July, 2014 at 11 am at room no. 39, NRCPB, LBS Building, Pusa Campus, New Delhi-110012. The candidates must bring original certificates and four copies of biodata, and recent passport size photograph. No TA/DA would be given for the appearance in interview. Only the candidates having essential qualifications would be entertained for the interviews.

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Faculty of Science

Essential Qualifications:

(i) Good academic record having at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the Master’s Degree level in a relevant subject, from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign University.

(II) Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, the candidates must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC, CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET.

(III) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of clause 4.4.1 of UGC regulations 2010, candidates, who are, or have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2009, shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/ SLET/ SET for engagement of guest Teacher.

(IV) NET/ SLET/ SET shall also not be required for such Master’s Degree Programmes in discipline for which NET/ SLET/ SET is not conducted.

Application form along with detailed instructions can be downloaded from Tripura University website: www.tripurauniv.in. The duly filled in application forms complete in all respects may be sent so as to reach the Office of the Deputy Registrar Academic Branch, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar - 799022, Tripura on or before 31st July, 2014. The Candidates who responded against advertisement No. TU.REG/N-Advt./02/10 dated 20.02.2014 need not apply again.

For more info visit: http://www.tripurauniv.in/images/universitymedia/EmploymentNotification/Guest%20Teacher%20Advt.%20website_09072014.pdf

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About 8,000 years ago, the gene EGLN1 changed by a single DNA base pair. Today, a relatively short time later on the scale of human history, 88 percent of Tibetans have the genetic variation, and it was virtually absent from closely related lowland Asians. The findings indicate the genetic variation endows its carriers with an advantage.

In those without the adaptation, low oxygen caused their blood to become thick with oxygen-carrying red blood cells, an attempt to feed starved tissues, which could cause long-term complications such as heart failure. The researchers found that the newly identified genetic variation protected Tibetans by decreasing the over-response to low oxygen.

Reference: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7513/abs/nature13408.html