susanr Colorado
08/09/16 7:33 am
No. There is no "Neanderthal gene." There are many differences between the genes of modern humans and Neanderthals, probably spread over the whole genome.
Down Syndrome results from an *extra* chromosome 21, so there are 3 copies of the chromosome (one from one parent, a duplicated one from the other). There are many, many genes on that chromosome.
What we see as physical characteristics in Neanderthals and in people with Down syndrome don't look much at all alike to me. But whatever similar characteristics there would be result of *differences* in genes between Neanderthals and modern humans (coding for proteins that happen to result in strong brow ridge, etc.) in Neanderthals happening to look similar the physical results of an *excess* of some proteins coded for in genes on chromosome 21 of modern humans. Probably not any correlation at all, but as I said, I don't see the resemblance anyway.
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