[ad_1]
ACTS Post opinions with a wide range of perspectives to encourage constructive discussion.
This study has aroused great interest not only in the scientific community: two Swedish researchers have found a gene in Neanderthals that increases the risk of severe Kovid-19 up to three times.
Stefan Schiffels of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Humanity said the study was very compelling. “It is a mutation in a single gene that can affect the extent of the disease and, more specifically, it doubles the risk of requiring hospital treatment.”
But it is not yet known why this genetic variant leads to increased risks of infection with Kovid-19.
The benefits of medicine
Anyone hoping the study will help treat Kovid-19 will be disappointed: the Swedish researchers’ goal is to advance knowledge about the human genome.
“The study seeks to determine how much the Neanderthal genome differs from that of humans today and where we inherit the same genome,” said Schiffels. For him, the benefit of the work of Swedish scientists is that it helps answer the questions: where did we come from and how does human origin work? “This is abstract knowledge, which could not be of direct benefit, but it is becoming very relevant together with Kovid-19,” he said.
What the experts reveal
The study authors are Swedish researchers Hugo Zeberg and Svante Pebo, who have long studied Neanderthals. Svante Pebo is considered the founder of paleogenetics.
In 2010, he and his team were able to reconstruct the first version of the Neanderthal genome based on 10,000-year-old bones. By comparing the genome of Neanderthals with that of modern man, scientists have concluded that we have about two percent of the DNA of Neanderthals and that this has influenced human evolution.
For example, it has strengthened our immune system, but to this day it is the cause of susceptibility to certain diseases, including Kovid-19. The two Swedish experts found that this version of the gene pool, which is associated with increased risk, is very similar to the genetic sequence of a Croatian Neanderthal that lived 50,000 years ago.
“It turns out that the genetic inheritance of the Neanderthal has tragic consequences during the current pandemic. And it takes an hour to understand why this is so, ”said Svante Pebo.
Differences and similarities
The genetic risk variant is not uniformly distributed in different parts of the world. “The mutation in the gene that the Neanderthal had and that we inherited from him is carried in Europe for every twelve. While in Africa it is almost non-existent ”, explains Schiffels.
According to him, chromosome 3, which scientists associate with Kovid-19, is of particular importance. Chromosomes contain thousands of genes. Thus, among other things, it can be determined whether in patients in whom the disease is more severe, a certain mutation is more common than in others.
We all carry millions of mutations, that is. genetic differences. These mutations are not inherited individually, but generally as a block. This block, which scientists have now identified, bears a strong resemblance to Neanderthals. “Now, along with Kovid-19, you suddenly notice that this mutation, which we have been carrying for tens of thousands of years, has not caused anything bad so far. But now it leads to this tragic effect,” said Schiffels.
Germany
[ad_2]
