Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Transient Expression of Proteins by Hydrodynamic Gene Delivery in Mice
Published on: May 5, 2014
A Brief History of APOL1: A Gene Evolving
1Department of Medicine and Center for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
Abstract:
APOL1 kidney risk variants lead to high rates of kidney disease in people of recent African ancestry. These risk variants are very common and confer a large increase in risk of kidney disease. This unusual combination of high frequency and large effect size occurs because the risk variants also appear to have beneficial properties. The risk variants show enhanced protective effects against certain pathogens, particularly the trypanosomes that cause African sleeping sickness. Here, we consider the origins and evolution of the primate-only APOL1 gene. Human genetics, mouse models, biochemistry, and comparative genomics suggest that APOL1 is an innate immunity gene and that the risk variants have the potential for heightened immunity that comes at the cost of toxicity to the kidneys. A better understanding of the evolution of APOL1 may help illuminate how APOL1 causes kidney disease in individuals who harbor the high-risk variants.
Related Concept Videos
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon...
Gene Duplication and Divergence
The duplicated copies of the gene are called Paralogs. Paralogs with similar sequences and functions form a gene family. Across several species, a large number of gene families are...
Non-LTR Retrotransposons
Gene Families
Occasionally these regions can be adapted to take on new roles within the organism, becoming novel genes...
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...
Bacterial RNA Polymerase
In most genes, the transcription site is a single base present upstream of the coding sequence. Though RNAP is a catalytically efficient enzyme, it does not recognize...

