Human genes often best Neandertal ones in brain, testes
Researchers measured activity in people who have one version of each gene
Humans and Neandertals are still in an evolutionary contest, a new study suggests.
Geneticist Joshua Akey of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues examined gene activity of more than 700 genes in which at least one person carried a human and a Neandertal version of the gene. Human versions of some genes are more active than Neandertal versions, especially in the brain and testes, the researchers report February 23 in Cell. In other tissues, some Neandertal versions of genes were more active than their human counterparts.