Mucin 7
Mucin-7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MUC7 gene. In animals, the MUC7 gene is found in most placental mammals, but not marsupials.Human variations
Humans carry either a five or six tandem repeat version of the gene. In other primates, the number of repeats found is 4-5 for gorillas, 5 for chimpanzees, 6-7 for orangutans, 8-10 for macaques, 10-11 for baboons and 11-12 for green monkeys.
Some modern people from Sub-Saharan Africa were found to carry a five tandem repeat variation of the MUC7 gene that is highly divergent from other, modern humans. The coalescence age for the human variations of the MUC7 gene is estimated to be around 4.5 million years ago, which predates the human-Neanderthal split. Neanderthals and Denisovans also carry variants that are much closer to those of other, modern humans; thus, researchers postulate that this divergent Sub-Saharan variant most likely introgressed from a currently yet-unknown archaic human ghost population.
