New discovery of Denisova DNA in ancient Japanese ancestors

Research shows that the Jomon people have little or no Denisovan DNA, helping to understand the migration and interactions of East Asian ancestors.

The Jomon people who lived in prehistoric Japan had “little or no” Denisovan DNA, according to newly published research. This suggests their ancestors may not have had contact with the long-extinct Denisovans. Photo: Fu et al, Cell (2025) CC-by-4.0.

The discovery is part of a study that analyzed hundreds of ancient and modern genomes to determine when and where Homo sapiens interbred with the mysterious Denisovans. Photo: inazakira / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0.

“To our surprise, we found that individuals from the Japanese archipelago from the prehistoric Jomon period (about 16,000 to 3,000 years ago) carried the least Denisovan ancestry among ancient and present-day East Asians,” the researchers wrote in the study, published October 20 in the journal Current Biology. Photo: John Bavaro Fine Art / Science Photo Library.

In addition, the team found that ancient mainland East Asians, such as those from China and Mongolia, carried more Denisovan genes than any other Eurasian group. Photo: Cheng-Han Sun.

Furthermore, experts discovered that these early East Asians descended from various Denisovan groups before the Last Glacial Maximum (about 26,500 to 19,000 years ago) – the coldest period of the last ice age. Photo: Ohn Bavaro Fine Art/Science Photo Library.

The researchers added that ancient Western Europeans, such as those in Iran and Georgia, had the least Denisovan ancestry. Photo: John Bavaro/early-man.com.

The findings are helping scientists map early human migrations and how different groups lived together. Photo: interestingengineering.

Until now, experts knew very little about the Denisovans, who lived in Eurasia from about 200,000 to 30,000 years ago. They have found some Denisovan remains and traces of DNA in present-day Oceanians, East Asians, Southeast Asians and Native Americans. Photo: Maayan Harel.

Researchers were surprised to find that the prehistoric Jomon people had very little Denisovan ancestry, with one individual who lived 3,755 years ago having between 1/6 and 1/8 of the Denisovan DNA found in East Asians today. Modern East Asians have about 0.1% Denisovan DNA. Photo: Maayan Harel.

However, Denisovan genes eventually made their way to Japan. People in Japan’s Kofun period (c. 300–710) inherited more Denisovan DNA than Jomon after their massive migration into Japan during this period. Photo: Hernandez/Cartwright/Collins/Maayan-Harel.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Behind the success of scientists. Source: VTV24.

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