Evolution and humans: Neanderthal and our health (Evolution)

by David Turell , Thursday, March 02, 2023, 17:41 (421 days ago) @ David Turell

If you've got Neanderthal genes, Covid can be very dangerous:

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/how-genes-from-neanderthals-predispose-peopl...

"One of the biggest lingering questions surrounding COVID-19 is why some people with the disease get sicker than others. While many factors are likely at play, numerous studies suggest a person’s genetics can predispose them to severe disease. Indeed, a genome-wide association study and a COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative dataset specifically point to a 50 kilobase-sized genomic segment on chromosome 3 as a major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19—a segment that, back in 2020, paleogenomicist Svante Pääbo and his collaborator Hugo Zeberg showed was inherited from Neanderthals some 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. However, the genetic variants on this segment—all strongly linked to each other.

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"Now, Terence Capellini, a Harvard University human evolutionary biologist, and colleagues have systematically evaluated the more than 600 genetic variants in the region. Ultimately, they homed in on three variants that regulate two key chemokine receptor genes that play a role in mediating the cytokine storm that is often involved in the pathogenesis of severe COVID-19. The results, published February 10 in eLife, shed new light on the interplay between the host genome and COVID-19 outcomes and help unravel the molecular mechanisms that underpin severe COVID-19.

“'From an evolutionary perspective, this work provides a beautiful example, all the way to the molecular level, of how a small part of our genome that was inherited from Neanderthals is impacting our health . . . to this day,” says Steven Reilly, a geneticist at the Yale School of Medicine, who wasn’t involved in the research. He adds that “the fact that this risk comes from DNA that originated in Neanderthals is very interesting and highlights how complex human ancestry is.'”

Comment: if it is also known Neanderthal genes help us with immunity.