Updated Feb 07, 2021 | 10:45 IST
Neanderthals gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine, suggest the findings of a new study. Study reveals Neanderthals gut microbiota, bacteria helping our health | Photo Credits: Pixabay
Bologna [Italy]: Neanderthals gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine, suggest the findings of a new study.
An international research group led by the University of Bologna achieved this result by extracting and analysing ancient DNA from 50,000-year-old faecal sediments sampled at the archaeological site of El Salt, near Alicante (Spain).
Published in Communication Biology, their paper puts forward the hypothesis of the existence of ancestral components of human microbiota that have been living in the human gastrointestinal tract since before the separation between the Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals that