Fire Haired14
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Iain Mathieson(Lead author of "8,000 Years of Natural Selection in Europe" recently made an interesting post at his blog two weeks: FADS genes, selection and diet
Here's a summary of his post:
>FADS genes are needed to synthesis long-chain unsaturated fatty acids from plant-based foods. Fatty acides are important for brain development.
>Fatty acids also be obtained from meat and fish though. So humans don't have to eat plants to get them.
>Activity of FADS genes for getting fatty acids from plants, have been selected for all over the world.
>A study found a long haplotype in FADS1 and FADS2 which essentially all Africans have, most Europeans have, many East Asians have, and hardly any Native Americans have.
>Neanderthals and Denosovians share some of the mutations in this haplotypes, Eurasian hunter gatherers(Loschbour, Ust Ishim) lack this haplotype, Neolithic farmer(Stuttgart) and ancient Ethopian(Moata) have this hpalotype.
>A SNP in a FADS gene; rs174546, is completely ancestral in European hunter gatherers and very derived in Neolithic Europeans and all later Europeans.
So, what this information suggests is: The common ancestors of humans and Neanderthals/Denosovians needed active FADS genes to get fatty acids from plants. Early non-Africans had a more meat-based diet, and so most lost those mutations. Then once Eurasians began to farm starting 10,000 years ago, they began to have a more plants in their diets so the FADS genes needed to be activated again.
Eurasians went from a plant-based diet in Africa, to a meat-based diet in Eurasia, to a plant-based diet once they became farmers. And as the diet changed they adapted.
Here's a summary of his post:
>FADS genes are needed to synthesis long-chain unsaturated fatty acids from plant-based foods. Fatty acides are important for brain development.
>Fatty acids also be obtained from meat and fish though. So humans don't have to eat plants to get them.
>Activity of FADS genes for getting fatty acids from plants, have been selected for all over the world.
>A study found a long haplotype in FADS1 and FADS2 which essentially all Africans have, most Europeans have, many East Asians have, and hardly any Native Americans have.
>Neanderthals and Denosovians share some of the mutations in this haplotypes, Eurasian hunter gatherers(Loschbour, Ust Ishim) lack this haplotype, Neolithic farmer(Stuttgart) and ancient Ethopian(Moata) have this hpalotype.
>A SNP in a FADS gene; rs174546, is completely ancestral in European hunter gatherers and very derived in Neolithic Europeans and all later Europeans.
So, what this information suggests is: The common ancestors of humans and Neanderthals/Denosovians needed active FADS genes to get fatty acids from plants. Early non-Africans had a more meat-based diet, and so most lost those mutations. Then once Eurasians began to farm starting 10,000 years ago, they began to have a more plants in their diets so the FADS genes needed to be activated again.
Eurasians went from a plant-based diet in Africa, to a meat-based diet in Eurasia, to a plant-based diet once they became farmers. And as the diet changed they adapted.