Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Stanford University, also in California, conclude that the skeleton is the remains of a young girl, whose unusual frame was likely caused by genetic mutations linked with dwarfism and bone disorders.

Study co-author Sanchita Bhattacharya, of the Institute for Computational Health Sciences at UCSF, and colleagues unearthed more than 60 gene variants that could be a possible cause of Ata's deformations, including some variants that have never been seen before.

The researchers believe that their discovery not only offers confirmation that Ata is human, but it also helps to shed light on some of the genetic causes of bone disease.

The study results were recently published in the journal Genome Research.

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