400,000‑Year‑Old Homo erectus Teeth Reveal Protein Link to Denisovans and Modern Southeast Asians

Scientists examined more than 400,000‑year‑old Homo erectus teeth from China and identified protein mutations that connect this ancient species to Denisovans and to some modern peoples of Southeast Asia and Oceania. The analysis shows that several East Asian Homo erectus populations shared a common evolutionary group, including a mutation previously linked to Denisovans. The data suggest that this variant may have transferred from Homo erectus into Denisovans and later entered the genomes of contemporary Southeast Asian and Oceanian populations. The discovery provides a new, tangible link between early hominins and modern humans, illustrating how genetic material can flow across species over hundreds of thousands of years.