Dolgova, OlgaLao Grueso, Oscar, 1976-2019-11-192019-11-192018Dolgova O, Lao O. Evolutionary and medical consequences of archaic introgression into modern human genomes. Genes (Basel). 2018; 9(7):358. DOI 10.3390/genes90703582073-4425http://hdl.handle.net/10230/42888The demographic history of anatomically modern humans (AMH) involves multiple migration events, population extinctions and genetic adaptations. As genome-wide data from complete genome sequencing becomes increasingly abundant and available even from extinct hominins, new insights of the evolutionary history of our species are discovered. It is currently known that AMH interbred with archaic hominins once they left the African continent. Current non-African human genomes carry fragments of archaic origin. This review focuses on the fitness consequences of archaic interbreeding in current human populations. We discuss new insights and challenges that researchers face when interpreting the potential impact of introgression on fitness and testing hypotheses about the role of selection within the context of health and disease.application/pdfeng© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes9070358Archaic introgressionFitnessNatural selectionNeanderthalDenisovanAnatomically modern humansinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess