Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2026

Osmotic Avoidance in Caenorhabditis elegans: Synaptic Function of Two Genes, Orthologues of Human NRXN1 and NLGN1, as Candidates for Autism
Published on: December 11, 2009
Balancing selection at the prion protein gene consistent with prehistoric kurulike epidemics
Simon Mead1, Michael P H Stumpf, Jerome Whitfield
1Medical Research Council Prion Unit, and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
Abstract:
Kuru is an acquired prion disease largely restricted to the Fore linguistic group of the Papua New Guinea Highlands, which was transmitted during endocannibalistic feasts. Heterozygosity for a common polymorphism in the human prion protein gene (PRNP) confers relative resistance to prion diseases. Elderly survivors of the kuru epidemic, who had multiple exposures at mortuary feasts, are, in marked contrast to younger unexposed Fore, predominantly PRNP 129 heterozygotes. Kuru imposed strong balancing selection on the Fore, essentially eliminating PRNP 129 homozygotes. Worldwide PRNP haplotype diversity and coding allele frequencies suggest that strong balancing selection at this locus occurred during the evolution of modern humans.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Pleiotropy
Frequency-dependent Selection
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
Genetic Drift
Human Genetics
The complex relationship between genetics and psychology is observable through common biological components such...
Genetic Variation
Genes exist in different versions called alleles, which...

