After five years of genetic research , amysterious mummified skeletondiscovered in Chile ’s Atacama desert is now confirm to be human – quashing theories about its extraterrestrial origins .
Though the resultant role may be unsatisfying to " I want to think " character , the all over genome sequencing has yielded enthralling insight into the medical cause of the specimen ’s never - before - seen disfigurement .
fit in to a study published inGenome Research , DNA extracted from the remains , nicknamed Ata , bears mutations in seven genes link with off-white and facial malformation , premature joint coalition , and dwarfism . Several of the novel abnormal sequences occurred in genes that were antecedently not known to impress physical development .
The backstory to this now - clarified scientific puzzler began in 2003 , when an artifact hunter reportedly dug up Ata , wrapped in a bloodless cloth big bucks , from the grounds of an abandoned church building in the mining ghost town of La Noria . Quickly blame up by local media outlets , the initialsensationalism around Atawas moderately justified : Who would n’t be outrage by a 15 - centimeter ( 6 - inch ) marvellous , conoid - head humanoid skeleton with sinisterly diagonal center socket and the ill-timed bit of rib ?
Senior author Garry Nolan , Ph.D. , from Stanford University , was immediately becharm .
" I had heard about this specimen through a friend of mine , and I deal to get a picture of it , " Nolan said in astatement . " You ca n’t see at this specimen and not think it ’s interesting ; it ’s quite striking . So I told my friend , ' Look , whatever it is , if it ’s get desoxyribonucleic acid , I can do the psychoanalysis . ' "
His team’sinitial investigation , complete in 2013 , provided some answers yet also promote new questions . Many had speculated that Ata was an ancient , desiccated premature fetus , but multiple examinations reveal that it is only about 40 years old . Moreover , the Department of State of the specimen ’s bones suggested that it die at six to eight years of age .
To in spades determine who ( or what ) the skeleton is , Nolan enlisted UC San Francisco pediatric genomics expert Atul Butte , MD , PhD.
Their full genetic analysis , which compared Ata ’s DNA sequences to those from both respectable and pathological references , proves that Ata is a female of South American pedigree and powerfully implies that she was a pre - term birth with a severe flesh ofskeletal dysplasiaand a off-white - aging disorderliness that caused former growth plate nuclear fusion reaction .
“ While the sinful phenotype of the specimen drive broad give-and-take as to its origin , and no hypothesis was left off the mesa during analytic thinking , the specimen is shown here to have a strictly earthly origin with mutations that reflect the optical determination , ” the report state .
How a fetus shield so many genetic defect , however , is probable to remain mysterious consider thatno ( sane ) peoplehave total forward with insider noesis .
“ While we can only theorise as to the cause for multiple mutations in Ata ’s genome , the specimen was found in La Noria , one of the Atacama Desert ’s many forsake nitrate mining towns , which intimate a potential purpose for prenatal nitrate exposure lead to DNA damage . ”
