# Population Genetics > Paleogenetics > Paleolithic & Mesolithic >  Increased fertility for women with Neanderthal gene

## Coriolan

"Increased fertility for women with Neanderthal gene, study suggests -- ScienceDaily" https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0526151738.htm

"One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals -- a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages. This is according to a study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden."

Here is the paper.

"Neandertal Progesterone Receptor | Molecular Biology and Evolution | Oxford Academic" https://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance...saa119/5841671

"The progesterone receptor is encoded by the PGR gene on chromosome 11."

"A polymorphic variant of PGR which carries the missense substitution V660L (rs1042838) in exon 4 and an Alu insertion between exons 7 and 8 occurs among present-day populations, reaching frequencies of up to ∼20%."

The Neanderthal allele is most common among people of European descent. It is rare in East Asia and South Asia.

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## Angela

> "Increased fertility for women with Neanderthal gene, study suggests -- ScienceDaily" https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0526151738.htm
> 
> "One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals -- a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages. This is according to a study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden."
> 
> Here is the paper.
> 
> "Neandertal Progesterone Receptor | Molecular Biology and Evolution | Oxford Academic" https://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance...saa119/5841671
> 
> "The progesterone receptor is encoded by the PGR gene on chromosome 11."
> ...


Interesting, Coriolan.

I'm CC. I don't know if that's the "Neanderthal" variant or not.

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## Regio X

> Interesting, Coriolan.
> 
> I'm CC. I don't know if that's the "Neanderthal" variant or not.


It looks like you have the "normal" result (Homo sapiens'): https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs1042838

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## Maciamo

So the Neanderthal variant increases fertility but also risk for endometrial ovarian cancer...

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## Salento

_Here's what we know sex with Neanderthals was like
_
... He was a Neanderthal, and stark naked apart from a fur cape. 
He had good posture and pale skin, perhaps reddened slightly with sunburn. 
Around one of his thick, muscular biceps he wore bracelet of eagle-talons. 
She was an early modern human, clad in an animal-skin coat with a wolf-fur trim. 
She had dark skin, long legs, and her hair was worn in braids ...

... He cleared his throat, looked her up and down, and – in an absurdly high-pitched, nasal voice – deployed his best chat-up line. 
She stared back blankly. Luckily for him, they didn’t speak the same language. 
They had an awkward laugh and, well, we can all guess what happened next. 

Of course, it could have been far less like a scene from a steamy romance novel. 
Perhaps the woman was actually the Neanderthal and the man belonged to our own species.
Maybe their relationship was of the casual, pragmatic kind, because there just weren’t many people around at the time. 
It’s even been suggested, too, that such hook-ups weren’t consensual.

While we will never know what really happened in this encounter – or others like it – what we can be sure of is that such a couple did get together. 
Around 37,000-42,000 years later, in February 2002, two explorers made an extraordinary discovery in an underground cave system in the southwestern Carpathian mountains, near the Romanian town of Anina ...

.............

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...thals-was-like

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