Oldest genetic data from a human relative found in 2-million-year-old teeth

The oldest genetic data of a relative of humans have been extracted from two-million-year-old teeth of the ancient hominin species Paranthropus robustus. The genetic data come from protein sequences rather than DNA, which tends to be less resilient. The researchers identified the sex of the hominins that the teeth belonged to, and confirmed that Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans are all more closely related to one another than they are to the Paranthropus. The jury is still out on whether ancient proteins will help bring consensus to the picture of hominin evolution, which is currently built largely from the shapes of bones.