Ann Gibbons, Science; Genetic data on half a million Brits reveal ongoing evolution and Neanderthal legacy
"For years, evolutionary biologists couldn't get their rubber-gloved
hands on enough people's genomes to detect the relatively rare bits of
Neanderthal DNA, much less to see whether or how our extinct cousins'
genetic legacy might influence disease or physical traits.
But a few years ago, Kelso and her
colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in
Leipzig, Germany, turned to a new tool—the UK Biobank (UKB), a large
database that holds genetic and health records for half a million
British volunteers. The researchers analyzed data from 112,338 of those
Britons—enough that "we could actually look and say: ‘We see a
Neanderthal version of the gene and we can measure its effect on
phenotype in many people—how often they get sunburned, what color their
hair is, and what color their eyes are,’" Kelso says. They found
Neanderthal variants that boost the odds that a person smokes, is an
evening person rather than a morning person, and is prone to sunburn and
depression."
Showing posts with label UK Biobank (UKB). Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK Biobank (UKB). Show all posts
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