Scientists said Wednesday they had sequenced the genome of Bushmen, the longest-surviving lineage of modern humans, expanding our understanding of genetic diversity and inherited disease.

Comparison of DNA provided by a Bushman elder and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu showed that Tutu is partly of Bushman heritage, they added.

The 78-year-old Nobel winner voiced "astonishment and delight" at the news, a researcher told AFP.

Bushmen is the collective term for linguistically-distinct groups of hunter-gatherers who inhabit the Kalahari Desert, which straddles parts of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

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