Enamel proteins from six Homo erectus specimens across China

peer-reviewed · Nature · 2026

peer-reviewed · Nature · 2026. Qiaomei Fu et al. Homo erectus remains have been found in Africa, Eurasia and Southeast Asia 1-3 , dating back around two…
Date 2026-07-02
Type peer-reviewed
Venue Nature
Publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Contribution downstream-application
DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10478-8
Citations (OpenAlex) 6
Venue 2-year citedness 18.93

Abstract

Homo erectus remains have been found in Africa, Eurasia and Southeast Asia 1-3 , dating back around two million years; however, owing to their age and state of preservation, obtaining informative molecular data from them has proved challenging. Here we successfully extracted and analysed ancient enamel proteins from five male and one female Middle Pleistocene H. erectus specimens from approximately 0.4 million years ago, from the Zhoukoudian, Hexian and Sunjiadong sites. All specimens from all three sites share two amino acid variants. Of these, A253G in AMBN is previously unknown and has not been identified in other human lineages, including H. erectus from Dmanisi (Georgia), Homo antecessor from Atapuerca (Spain), Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans. The other variant, AMBN(M273V), has previously been identified in Denisovans, and our evidence now indicates it may have been introduced through populations related to these Middle Pleistocene H. erectus. The regions in the Denisovan genome attributed to super-archaic introgression, some of which later passed to modern humans, are likely to have originated from H. erectus. Late Middle Pleistocene H. erectus may have coexisted with Denisovans in parts of East Asia, where these interactions are presumed to have occurred.

Authors

  1. Qiaomei Fu · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  2. Zhongyou Wu · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  3. E. Andrew Bennett · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
  4. Song Xing · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
  5. Qiang Ji · Hebei GEO University
  6. Zhe Dong
  7. Huiyun Rao · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
  8. Xuejun Gu
  9. Yizhao Dang
  10. Jun Xing
  11. Kai Zhou · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
  12. Xiaotian Feng · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology

Methods and tools

  • Homo erectus enamel proteome (China): Enamel proteome of six roughly 0.4-million-year-old Homo erectus specimens from Zhoukoudian, Hexian and Sunjiadong, sequenced with PEAKS, revealing a novel AMBN variant shared by all of them.

Methods it uses

  • PEAKS: Commercial DP-based de novo

Data deposited

  • Enamel proteins from six Homo erectus specimens across China — as deposited · PXD068897

Cites (4)

Cited by (1)

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