Language gene polymorphism pattern of Pan paniscus adds indirect evidence that Qinghai-Tibet plateau area was also a birth place of humankind: a potential milestone for both science and education

Abstract

Abstract More and more evidences support that anthropoids in Africa originated from Asia, and why Homo genus emerged earlier in Africa than other continents remains enigmatic. One of the anthropoids closest to Homo is Pan paniscus (Bonobo), now inhabitating only south of Congo river. Language ability of Bonobo seems close to that of Homo sapiens, suggesting that it is evolutionarily only one or several steps away from humankind. In this study, 148 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites of 13 language genes were employed to roughly search for language gene polymorphism pattern (LGPP) of 113 whole genome sequences (including 59 ancient genomes ranging from 2000 BP to 120000 BP) from five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America). It was found that the LGPP of Bonobo is highly close to several samples: a 7900y old ancient sub-Sahara African forager and three modern human people from Pakistan, Kenya and Congo. This result could be an indirect evidence for the following possibility: uplifting of Qinghai-Tibet plateau induced huge ecological challenge, thus promoting migration of ancient anthropoids around Pakistan area to Africa and evolution into Bonobo and a certain Homo genus that was highly similar to Bonobo. Later on the Homo genus migrated out of Africa and got a chance to reach Pakistan. This preliminary finding may have a potential to be a milestone in human evolution for both scientific research and cultural education.