| 1. |
- Gerbault, Pascale, et al.
(författare)
-
Evolution of lactase persistence : an example of human niche construction
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8436 .- 1471-2970. ; 366:1566, s. 863-877
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Niche construction is the process by which organisms construct important components of their local environment in ways that introduce novel selection pressures. Lactase persistence is one of the clearest examples of niche construction in humans. Lactase is the enzyme responsible for the digestion of the milk sugar lactose and its production decreases after the weaning phase in most mammals, including most humans. Some humans, however, continue to produce lactase throughout adulthood, a trait known as lactase persistence. In European populations, a single mutation (-13910*T) explains the distribution of the phenotype, whereas several mutations are associated with it in Africa and the Middle East. Current estimates for the age of lactase persistence-associated alleles bracket those for the origins of animal domestication and the culturally transmitted practice of dairying. We report new data on the distribution of -13910*T and summarize genetic studies on the diversity of lactase persistence worldwide. We review relevant archaeological data and describe three simulation studies that have shed light on the evolution of this trait in Europe. These studies illustrate how genetic and archaeological information can be integrated to bring new insights to the origins and spread of lactase persistence. Finally, we discuss possible improvements to these models.
|
|
| 2. |
- Huang, Lam O., et al.
(författare)
-
Genome-wide discovery of genetic loci that uncouple excess adiposity from its comorbidities
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Nature Metabolism. - : Springer Nature. - 2522-5812. ; 3:2, s. 228-243
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases. Nevertheless, a substantial proportion of individuals with obesity do not suffer cardiometabolic comorbidities. The mechanisms that uncouple adiposity from its cardiometabolic complications are not fully understood. Here, we identify 62 loci of which the same allele is significantly associated with both higher adiposity and lower cardiometabolic risk. Functional analyses show that the 62 loci are enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue, and for regulatory variants that influence nearby genes that affect adipocyte differentiation. Genes prioritized in each locus support a key role of fat distribution (FAM13A, IRS1 and PPARG) and adipocyte function (ALDH2, CCDC92, DNAH10, ESR1, FAM13A, MTOR, PIK3R1 and VEGFB). Several additional mechanisms are involved as well, such as insulin-glucose signalling (ADCY5, ARAP1, CREBBP, FAM13A, MTOR, PEPD, RAC1 and SH2B3), energy expenditure and fatty acid oxidation (IGF2BP2), browning of white adipose tissue (CSK, VEGFA, VEGFB and SLC22A3) and inflammation (SH2B3, DAGLB and ADCY9). Some of these genes may represent therapeutic targets to reduce cardiometabolic risk linked to excess adiposity.
|
|
| 3. |
- Itan, Yuval, et al.
(författare)
-
Detecting Gene Duplications in the Human Lineage
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Annals of Human Genetics. - : Wiley. - 0003-4800 .- 1469-1809. ; 74:6, s. 555-565
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gene duplications represent an important class of evolutionary events that is likely to have contributed to the unique human phenotype in the short evolutionary time since the human-chimpanzee divergence. With the availability of both human and chimpanzee genome drafts in high coverage re-sequencing assemblies and the high annotation quality of most human genes, it should now be possible to identify all human lineage-specific gene duplication events (human inparalogues) and a few pioneering studies have attempted to do that. However, the different levels of coverage in the human and chimpanzee's genomes assemblies, and the differing levels of gene annotation, have led to problematic assumptions and oversimplifications in the algorithms and the datasets used to detect human lineage-specific gene duplications. In this study, we have developed a set of bioinformatic tools to overcome a number of the conceptual problems that are prevalent in previous studies and have collected a reliable and representative set of human inparalogues.
|
|
| 4. |
- Romero, Irene Gallego, et al.
(författare)
-
Herders of Indian and European Cattle Share Their Predominant Allele for Lactase Persistence
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 29:1, s. 248-259
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Milk consumption and lactose digestion after weaning are exclusively human traits made possible by the continued production of the enzyme lactase in adulthood. Multiple independent mutations in a 100-bp region-part of an enhancer-approximately 14-kb upstream of the LCT gene are associated with this trait in Europeans and pastoralists from Saudi Arabia and Africa. However, a single mutation of purported western Eurasian origin accounts for much of observed lactase persistence outside Africa. Given the high levels of present-day milk consumption in India, together with archaeological and genetic evidence for the independent domestication of cattle in the Indus valley roughly 7,000 years ago, we sought to determine whether lactase persistence has evolved independently in the subcontinent. Here, we present the results of the first comprehensive survey of the LCT enhancer region in south Asia. Having genotyped 2,284 DNA samples from across the Indian subcontinent, we find that the previously described west Eurasian -13910 C>T mutation accounts for nearly all the genetic variation we observed in the 400- to 700-bp LCT regulatory region that we sequenced. Geography is a significant predictor of -13910*T allele frequency, and consistent with other genomic loci, its distribution in India follows a general northwest to southeast declining pattern, although frequencies among certain neighboring populations vary substantially. We confirm that the mutation is identical by descent to the European allele and is associated with the same >1 Mb extended haplotype in both populations.
|
|
| 5. |
- Wang, Qin, et al.
(författare)
-
Genetic susceptibility to diabetic kidney disease is linked to promoter variants of XOR
- 2023
-
Ingår i: NATURE METABOLISM. - 2522-5812. ; 5, s. 607-625
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The lifetime risk of kidney disease in people with diabetes is 10-30%, implicating genetic predisposition in the cause of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Here we identify an expression quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in the cis-acting regulatory region of the xanthine dehydrogenase, or xanthine oxidoreductase (Xor), a binding site for C/EBP beta, to be associated with diabetes-induced podocyte loss in DKD in male mice. We examine mouse inbred strains that are susceptible (DBA/2J) and resistant (C57BL/6J) to DKD, as well as a panel of recombinant inbred BXD mice, to map QTLs. We also uncover promoter XOR orthologue variants in humans associated with high risk of DKD. We introduced the risk variant into the 5 '-regulatory region of XOR in DKD-resistant mice, which resulted in increased Xor activity associated with podocyte depletion, albuminuria, oxidative stress and damage restricted to the glomerular endothelium, which increase further with type 1 diabetes, high-fat diet and ageing. Therefore, differential regulation of Xor contributes to phenotypic consequences with diabetes and ageing. Wang et al. identify a promoter variant in xanthine oxidoreductase associated with diabetic kidney disease through increased podocyte depletion and glomerular injury.
|
|
