By Kevin E. Noonan — When it comes to SARS-CoV-2 infection (and resulting COVID-19), it seems our Neanderthal ancestors giveth and taketh away. Genetic material inherited from interbreeding between Neanderthals and early humans has been shown to increase the risk of serious COVID infection (see “Inherited Neanderthal Gene Encodes Genetic Risk for COVID-19”). Recently, further explication of correlations between Neanderthal remnants in genomic DNA of modern humans has shown that a sequence on chromosome 12 is associated with milder COVID disease. These results were reported by the same researchers who reported the earlier, more sinister connection between Neanderthal DNA and…
