The Neanderthal variant in AMPD1 decreases its enzymatic activity by 25% in lab-produced proteins and by up to 80% in the muscles of genetically engineered mice; the variant is found in all sequenced Neanderthals, but is absent in all other species. It entered the modern human gene pool through interbreeding around 50,000 years ago. As a result, up to 8% of present-day Europeans carry it. Macak et al. show that a genetic variant inherited from Neanderthals...
