Ancient DNA and proteins identify China\u2019s nearly complete \u201cDragon Man\u201d skull as Denisovan.The fossil, at least 146,000 years old, connects molecular evidence with detailed Denisovan skull anatomy.DNA came from hardened tooth plaque and proteins from skull bone; the lineage\u2019s formal species name remains unresolved.<\/p>\n
A trace of hardened plaque on a single surviving molar helped solve the identity of one of Asia\u2019s most puzzling human fossils. The nearly complete Harbin skull, nicknamed \u201cDragon Man,\u201d belonged to a Denisovan, an extinct human lineage closely related to Neanderthals.<\/p>\n
The findings appeared in Cell<\/a> and Science<\/a>. Together, they connect a richly preserved skull with a lineage previously represented mainly by fragmentary remains.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a pin in the map we can use to say, \u2018This is what Denisovans looked like,\u2019\u201d said Carina Schlebusch, an evolutionary anthropologist at Uppsala University<\/a> who was not involved in either study.<\/p>\n An ancient skull discovered near Harbin, China, reveals evidence of an extinct human lineage. (CREDIT: Hebei GEO University) A recognizable skull with an uncertain identity<\/p>\n The Harbin cranium comes from Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China. Direct uranium-series dating established a minimum age of approximately 146,000 years, rather than an exact date for the individual\u2019s life.<\/p>\n Its preservation makes it especially valuable. The skull is nearly complete and undistorted, retaining features that small teeth or bone fragments cannot reveal together.<\/p>\n When researchers described it in 2021, its large size, thick brow ridges and heavy upper jaw attracted attention. Hebei GEO University researcher Ji Qiang and colleagues proposed a new species, Homo longi<\/a>, with the name referring to \u201cdragon.\u201d<\/p>\n Other researchers suspected a Denisovan connection because of the fossil\u2019s location, age and anatomy. However, comparisons of shape produced conflicting interpretations of its relationship to other ancient humans.<\/p>\n Some analyses grouped Harbin with the Denisovan-associated Xiahe jaw from the Tibetan Plateau. Others separated them, illustrating the difficulty of assigning fossils to populations using anatomy alone.<\/p>\n Denisovans were first recognized as a distinct lineage through genetic evidence in 2010. Connecting their molecular identity with informative skull anatomy remained a major gap in reconstructing human evolution across Asia.<\/p>\n Researchers recovered ancient DNA from dental plaque on a skeleton\u2019s only surviving molar. (CREDIT: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) Hardened plaque succeeds where bone DNA fails<\/p>\n Fu\u2019s team initially searched for ancient DNA in samples from the skull\u2019s petrous bone and tooth material. Those attempts did not recover usable ancient human DNA.<\/p>\n The researchers then turned to dental calculus, the mineralized plaque attached to the remaining molar. Its hardened structure can preserve biological material long after other sources become unusable.<\/p>\n A sample weighing just 0.3 milligrams yielded ancient mitochondrial DNA<\/a>. That genetic material comes from the cell\u2019s energy-producing mitochondria and provides evidence about maternal ancestry.<\/p>\n Modern contamination complicated the analysis. Nearly four-fifths of the human genetic material extracted from the sample came from modern sources, making careful identification of the ancient component essential.<\/p>\n The surviving ancient sequences matched Denisovan mitochondrial DNA. Comparisons also linked Harbin to an early Denisovan lineage represented by individuals from Siberia. This was not a complete nuclear genome, which would offer a broader account of the individual\u2019s ancestry. The independent protein evidence therefore adds an important second line of support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can finally clearly show it\u2019s Denisovan DNA<\/a>, and it\u2019s related to early Denisovans,\u201d Fu said.<\/p>\n The result demonstrates why researchers sometimes need to examine unexpected parts of a fossil. It also shows that unsuccessful DNA recovery from dense bone does not necessarily exhaust a specimen\u2019s molecular evidence.<\/p>\n The Harbin cranium and geographic location of hominin specimens older than 100 ka where human DNA has been retrieved. (CREDIT: Qiaomei Fu et al, Cell) Skull proteins provide an independent check<\/p>\n The protein study followed a different route, using two samples from the petrous bone<\/a>. This distinction matters: its evidence did not come from the same plaque sample that yielded mitochondrial DNA.<\/p>\n The researchers identified 95 ancient proteins after separating likely contaminants from material belonging to the fossil. Chemical changes associated with degradation helped authenticate the ancient proteins.<\/p>\n Their analysis recovered 19,299 peptides, the smaller protein fragments used to reconstruct sequences. That provided substantially more protein information than earlier studies of several other ancient human specimens.<\/p>\n Because DNA directs protein production, differences in protein sequences can reveal inherited variation. Researchers compared Harbin\u2019s sequences with those associated with Denisovans, Neanderthals<\/a>, modern humans and other apes.<\/p>\n One Denisovan-associated amino acid variant was supported with high confidence. Two additional variants offered potential support, although the paper treated those identifications as less reliable.<\/p>\n A broader analysis of protein sequences also placed Harbin with Denisovans. The grouping received 98% or 100% statistical support, depending on the comparison dataset, reinforcing the conclusion from mitochondrial DNA.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking the two studies together, it\u2019s pretty clear this is a Denisovan individual,\u201d said Bence Viola, a University of Toronto paleoanthropologist who was not involved in either study.<\/p>\n Geographic locations and proteomic profiles for the Pleistocene hominin individuals with palaeoproteomic data. (CREDIT: Qiaomei Fu et al, Science) A better reference for Asia\u2019s ancient humans<\/p>\n Harbin gives researchers an anatomical reference anchored by molecular identification. Its skull and tooth features can now guide comparisons with fossils from excavations and museum collections.<\/p>\n That could help assess specimens whose identities remain uncertain. However, resemblance to Harbin would be a reason for further investigation, rather than automatic proof of Denisovan ancestry.<\/p>\n Earlier molecular work had already connected fossils from Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau<\/a> and Taiwan with Denisovans. The Harbin findings add northeastern China to that evidence and strengthen the picture of a geographically widespread lineage.<\/p>\n The protein paper points to Denisovan populations occupying varied environments, including low-lying plains, high plateaus and subtropical woodlands. Establishing relationships among those populations will require additional molecular sampling.<\/p>\n A 2019 study attempted to reconstruct Denisovan anatomy from DNA methylation patterns<\/a>, proposing features including a long face and wider pelvis. Such predictions addressed a sparse fossil record, but Harbin now offers direct cranial anatomy for comparison.<\/p>\n The skull does not reveal the complete Denisovan body or every population\u2019s appearance. It does provide a much fuller view of one individual than the fragments that previously dominated molecularly identified remains.<\/p>\n Proteomic profile of the Harbin cranium. Composition across the 95 proteins retrieved for the Harbin individual. \u201cPlasma proteins\u201d here refers to nonmatrisome plasma proteins. (CREDIT: Qiaomei Fu et al, Science) The lineage is clearer than the species name<\/p>\n Identifying Harbin as Denisovan does not settle every taxonomic question. Researchers still debate how to classify Denisovans and Neanderthals, including whether to recognize separate species or categories within Homo sapiens.<\/p>\n The name Homo longi also depends on which other fossils ultimately prove to be Denisovan. If an older applicable species name already exists, taxonomic priority could affect the name used for the group.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil we know which specimens are Denisovans, we can\u2019t be sure which name is valid,\u201d Viola said. Harbin\u2019s molecular identity is now much clearer, while its formal classification remains open.<\/p>\n Dig deeper into Denisovan fossils and ancient molecules<\/p>\n These studies explore how genomes, proteins and anatomical predictions have expanded the evidence for Denisovans across Asia.<\/p>\n Research findings are available online in the journals Cell<\/a> and Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ancient DNA and proteins identify China\u2019s nearly complete \u201cDragon Man\u201d skull as Denisovan.The fossil, at least 146,000 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[179529,6122,64665,369628,107615,369629,369630,205740,58011,80705,15846,14561,138657,319841,16086,369631,369632,1728,79],"class_list":["post-879086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ancient-dna","tag-chinese-academy-of-sciences","tag-denisovans","tag-dental-calculus","tag-dragon-man","tag-fossil-anatomy","tag-harbin-skull","tag-homo-longi","tag-human-evolution","tag-middle-pleistocene","tag-mitochondrial-dna","tag-neanderthals","tag-new-discoveries","tag-paleoanthropology","tag-paleontology","tag-paleoproteomics","tag-qiaomei-fu","tag-research","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}