The research indicates that the genetic variant observed, which affects zinc regulation, could have signified an evolutionary advantage in our ancestors’ adaptation to the cold.
Arising from this question, Elena Bosch’s team identified an adaptive variant among current human populations in a region of our genome that bears great similarity to the genome of an extinct ancestral population: the Denisovans. The Evolutionary Population Genetics Laboratory, directed by Bosch, wished to find out what changes are brought about by this genetic variation of Denisovan origin at the cellular level. “We discovered that this mutation surely had implications for the transport of zinc within the cell, and so we contacted Vicente’s team”, recalls Elena Bosch, IBE principal investigator and co-leader of the study.in a zinc transporter, which was very different between the populations of Africa and Asia today.
Vicente’s laboratory identified that the observed variant causes a new zinc balance within the cell, promoting a change in metabolism. By altering the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of the cells, this variation causes a possible metabolic advantage to cope with a hostile climate. “The observed phenotype leads us to think of a possible adaptation to the cold”, Vicente asserts.
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