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Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
Pere Gelabert1, Iñigo Olalde1, Toni de-Dios1
1Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
Scientific Reports
|May 5, 2017
Summary
Malaria
Area of Science:
- Human evolutionary genetics
- Paleogenomics
- Population genetics
Background:
- Malaria is a significant selective pressure on human genomes.
- Historically endemic in Europe, malaria's selective impact on ancient European populations is poorly understood.
- Eradication of malaria in Europe occurred around the mid-20th century.
Observation:
- 224 ancient European genomes (Upper Palaeolithic to post-Roman) were analyzed for 22 malaria-resistant alleles.
- Specific malaria resistance mutations (G6PD, HBB, Duffy) were absent.
- Malaria-resistant alleles predating agriculture were identified.
Findings:
- Statistically significant genetic differences were observed between ancient and modern populations in ATP2B4, FCGR2B, and ABO genes.
- Evidence of genetic selection was found in the IL-10 and ATP2B4 genes.
- The causative agent for observed genetic selection remains uncertain due to pleiotropic gene functions.
Implications:
- The selective pressure of malaria appears to have been relatively weak in Europe.
- This weakness may be linked to a more recent introduction of severe malaria pathogens to the region.
- Further research is needed to disentangle malaria's specific role from other immunological challenges in shaping European genomes.
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