ArticlePLoS genetics2016
The Strength of Selection against Neanderthal Introgression.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 162 papers.
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Who cites it
162 citing papers in PubMed.
- Analysis of whole exome sequencing in severe mental illness hints at selection of brain development and immune related genes.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Genetics and genomics of hybridization.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Rapid genome-wide purging following tsunami-induced hybridization in a stickleback population.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- A tsunami of genome reshuffling.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Genomic insights into natural selection in recent human history.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- On the Causes of Correlated Genomic Ancestry Across Contrasting Hybridization Histories in a Monkeyflower Species Pair.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Population Decline, Inbreeding and Hybridization Shape the Genetic Vulnerability of a Critically Endangered Seabird.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Limited Selection on Neanderthal DNA in 30,780 Recently Admixed Genomes with African-like Ancestry.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Tracking the Evolutionary Trajectory of a Young Hybrid Plant Pathogen.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Scalable ARG-free Detection of Denisovan-mediated Superarchaic Introgression Reveals Heterogeneous Patterns across Populations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Long-term isolation and archaic introgression shape functional genetic variation in Near Oceania.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- A global map for introgressed structural variation and selection in humans.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Introgression and Divergence in a Young Species Group.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- On the causes of correlated genomic ancestry across contrasting hybridization histories in a monkeyflower species pair.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Deep learning reveals genomic regions introgressed between two recurrently hybridizing lynx species.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Recovering signatures of archaic introgression using ancestral recombination graphs.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans was strongly sex biased.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Recent advances in methods to characterize archaic introgression in modern humans.Genome research · 2026Review
- Per-allele disease and complex trait effect sizes are predominantly African MAF-dependent in European populations.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Association of Chromosome 3p21.32 Haplotype Blocks Introgressed from Neanderthals with Critical COVID-19 in a Spanish Cohort.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
102 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Hybridization between humans and Neanderthals has resulted in a low level of Neanderthal ancestry scattered across the genomes of many modern-day humans. After hybridization, on average, selection appears to have removed Neanderthal alleles from the human population. Quantifying the strength and causes of this selection against Neanderthal ancestry is key to understanding our relationship to Neanderthals and, more broadly, how populations remain distinct after secondary contact. Here, we develop a novel method for estimating the genome-wide average strength of selection and the density of selected sites using estimates of Neanderthal allele frequency along the genomes of modern-day humans. We confirm that East Asians had somewhat higher initial levels of Neanderthal ancestry than Europeans even after accounting for selection. We find that the bulk of purifying selection against Neanderthal ancestry is best understood as acting on many weakly deleterious alleles. We propose that the majority of these alleles were effectively neutral-and segregating at high frequency-in Neanderthals, but became selected against after entering human populations of much larger effective size. While individually of small effect, these alleles potentially imposed a heavy genetic load on the early-generation human-Neanderthal hybrids. This work suggests that differences in effective population size may play a far more important role in shaping levels of introgression than previously thought.
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