Were the Neanderthals rh negative?

Share Button

One theory that has become popular is that rh negative blood might come from the Neanderthals.
But were the Neanderthals in fact rh negative and has that theory ever been met with direct evidence?
Max Planck Forscher Prof. Dr.Svante Pääbo entschlüsselt Neandertaler-Genom
I have personally contacted Svante Pääbo from the Max Planck Institute and asked him if they knew what the rh factor of the Neanderthal specimens examined was.

Here is the email I have received:

The Denisova and Altai Neandertal are homozygous for the ancestral “A” variant at position 25629943 on chromosome 1 that determines rhesus type in modern humans. This variant means that both are likely rhesus positive.

My follow up question was:

Could it be possible that that the Denisova and Altai Neanderthals
were homozygenous for the D negative gene rather than D positive?

The reply:

No. As far as I can tell from the informative position that determines
rhesus type in humans, both are homozygous rhesus positive.

Note: Homozygous rhesus positive means that neither of the two specimens examined carried the rh negative gene recessively either making them both +/+.

Share Button

21 Comments

  1. Hanna November 21, 2014
    • Vegoia April 10, 2016
    • Rhesusnegative.netAuthor July 9, 2023
  2. Cheryl Yoke August 5, 2016
  3. Debbie August 30, 2016
    • Evely schoepf May 15, 2017
      • Marine1 October 25, 2019
  4. prioris October 14, 2016
  5. Brian Johnston October 7, 2018
  6. Ken June 14, 2020
    • Ken June 15, 2020
    • Alan June 26, 2020
      • Robin Pryha July 22, 2020
  7. - Ken -- O RhD neg - June 14, 2020
    • Mike DammannAuthor June 15, 2020
  8. Helmut Grassinger July 20, 2020
  9. Nancy B. Clark November 12, 2020
  10. Crystal May 20, 2021
  11. Crystal May 20, 2021
  12. Elaine August 15, 2021

Add a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.