• m0darn@lemmy.ca
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    18 hours ago

    Genetic incompatibility - the interspecific cross could only occur one way.

    This could be human male-neanderthal female (HMNF) coupling didn’t result in fertile offspring right? Could it also be that HMNF (coupling) didn’t result in fertile female offspring, but did have fertile male offspring?

    • The_v@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      Usually these issues are caused by mitochondrial DNA not nuclear DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is only passed on from the female. So if there is an incompatibility, it’s usually completely lethal to any offspring.

      So a HMNF coupling could not have been possible because of the neanderthal’s female mitochondrial DNA.