Excavating Denisovan ancestries from the genomes of modern humans: an evaluation of the diversity of Denisovan populations

Denisovans are a group of now extinct, archaic humans who lived in the Eastern part of Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene, and they are considered to be a sister group to Neanderthal, from which they diverged early in their evolutionary history. Even though to this date only one high coverage Denisovan genome is available (the Altai Denisova genome from Denisova Cave, Siberia), it can still give us extensive genomic data to compare to the modern human genome: analyses performed on this Denisovan genome have yielded some understanding into their population history and even highlighted the admixture of these archaic humans with Neanderthals and modern humans. The analysis of Denisovan ancestries found in the genomes of some modern human populations as introgressed genetic material left by such admixture events can provide insights into the diversity of Denisovan populations and overcome the currently limited availability of Denisova genomes. The segments of archaic ancestry I dug out of a pan-Eurasian panel of modern genomes show differing similarity to the sequenced Denisovan genome and this hints to a diversified pattern of multiple Denisovan groups, a regional mosaic of archaic humans that admixed with modern humans across a wide area in Eurasia, and gave them genetic material that can be differentiated with the proper genomics tools.