Geneticists, in collaboration with bioinformaticians, developed a new software tool designed to work with ancient genomes that often contain significant contamination from modern human DNA. Using this method, researchers managed to analyze the fragmented genome of a Neanderthal child found in the Tashik-Tash cave.
The study established that the discovered remains belonged to a boy. The analysis showed that this individual was genetically closer to European-type Neanderthals than to Altai Neanderthals.
The results of this work were published by the scientists as a preprint on the bioRxiv.org platform.