We may owe our ability to fight disease to our extinct relatives - the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
According to a pair of scientific studies, key genes in the immune system come from our ancient "cousins".
The findings, which appear in The American Journal of Human Genetics, suggest we have Neanderthals to thank for being able to fight off pathogens.
But interbreeding may have had a downside, as the same genes may have made us more prone to allergies.
Modern-day people can trace their ancestry to a small population that emerged from Africa about 60,000 years ago.
As the African humans spread out across the world, they came into contact with other ancient humans based in Europe and Western Asia.
Genetic evidence suggests that these different "tribes" interbred, with part of the genome of Neanderthals still present in humans alive today.
About 1% to 6% of the modern Eurasian human genome seems to come from Neanderthals and Denisovans - another extinct member of the human family.
Scientists in Germany analysed the genes of both modern humans and our ancient relatives to find the source of changes in our immune system's genetic blueprints-read more on bbc link-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35246503
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