Are we part Neanderthal?

I was just watching a PBS program on human evolution. The show was well done. It ended with DNA and Neanderthals. The results seemed to show that we are not closely related to Neanderthals although we must have come from some common ancestor. I believe that this work was with mitochondrial DNA as it is the most prevalent form of DNA with hundreds to thousands of copies per cell. Most genes are of course only present in two copies per cell. It may be that looking at nuclear genes would show a closer relationship with some interbreeding in Europe. Mitochondrial genes can be lost as they are only inherited maternally and if a women doesn’t produce a daughter her line will become extinct. In fact, considering how the Neanderthal looked it may be that any interbreeding came by a male Neanderthal mating with a human female. I assume that do to her strength, a Neanderthal female would not be susceptible to rape. The other way around sounds more reasonable.

The advantage to mitochondrial DNA is it’s many copies per cell compared to the two copies of nuclear DNA per cell. There is another form of nucleic acid that is also present in many copies per cell and it includes nuclear genes. It is RNA. It can be present as messenger or ribosomal RNA as well as other forms. I believe that it is less stable than DNA and more prone to degradation with age. However, there is a lot more of it and would show genes inherited from either parent. One would use reverse transcriptase to convert the RNA to DNA for sequencing. Looking at nuclear nucleic acids may yet show a closer relationship between Homo sapiens and Neanderthal.

Also, in the documentaries the Neanderthal are shown with dark hair and brown eyes. As they spent over 200,000 years up North I would assume that they would have a greater tendency to be blue eyed blonds than humans. Perhaps blond hair, blue eyes and light skin are Neanderthal traits.