Population Structure Models Challenge Neanderthal Admixture Claims
Chikhi and Tournebize 2024 models show African population structure accounts for Neanderthal-like DNA without interbreeding, contradicting panmictic assumptions in Pääbo 2010 analysis.
French geneticists Lounès Chikhi and Rémi Tournebize proposed that genomic patterns attributed to Neanderthal interbreeding can be explained by structured African populations without hybridization (MIT Technology Review, 2026). Svante Pääbo's 2010 draft Neanderthal genome sequence reported 1-4% shared DNA in non-African modern humans, based on models assuming random mating across large populations (Green et al., Science 328, 710-722, 2010). Chikhi's team demonstrated that spatially organized subpopulations with intermittent gene flow produce identical statistical signals, matching archaeological data on African barriers (Tournebize et al., PLOS Genetics, 2024). William Amos cited parallel failures in primate studies where similar assumptions distorted introgression estimates for orangutans (Amos, Heredity, 2010; MIT Technology Review, 2026).
AXIOM: Structured subpopulation models from African fossil and genetic records better fit observed DNA segments than direct Neanderthal admixture in current statistical frameworks.
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