Fig. 2: Genes affecting voice and face are the most over-represented within AMH-derived DMRs.

a The number of DMRs that emerged along each of the human branches. Divergence times are in thousands of years ago (kya). b Distribution of median distances (turquoise) of DMRs to randomized single nucleotide changes that separate AMHs from archaic humans and chimpanzees. Genomic positions of single nucleotide changes were allocated at random. This was repeated 10,000 times. Red arrow marks the observed distance of DMRs, showing that they tend to be significantly closer to AMH-derived single nucleotide changes than expected by chance. This suggests that some of these sequence changes might be associated with the changes in methylation. c A heat map representing the level of enrichment of each anatomical part within the AMH-derived DMRs. Only body parts that are significantly enriched (FDR < 0.05) are colored. Three skeletal parts are significantly over-represented: the face, pelvis, and larynx (voice box, marked with arrows). d Enrichment levels of anatomical parts within the most significant (top quartile, Q statistic) AMH-derived DMRs, showing a more pronounced enrichment of genes affecting vocal and facial anatomy.