michaelA rapid evolutionary process provides Sudanese Copts with resistance to malaria
The study published in PNAS sets out how, in just 1,500 years, the #Copts have acquired a genetic variant that protects them from contracting #malaria after mixing with other #Sudan ese populations.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1115288 #science #genome #tropicaldisease #humans #medicine
A rapid evolutionary process provides Sudanese Copts with resistance to malaria
An international study investigating the genomic diversity of the Sudanese population reveals that the Copts originating in Egypt –who settled in the country between the seventh and eleventh centuries– have acquired a genetic variant that protects them from contracting malaria. “The acquisition of this variant has taken place very quickly, in just 1,500 years, after a group of Copts mixed with Sudanese populations with sub-Saharan characteristics”, explains David Comas, principal investigator at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE: CSIC-Pompeu Fabra University) and a full professor and researcher at the UPF Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, who has led the research. The study of 125 high-coverage genomes representing five of the country’s ethnolinguistic groups has enabled describing more than a million novel genetic variants, 1,500 of which could have implications for diseases.
Matt Willemsen
TrueInfections
M_C_B52
रञ्जित (Ranjit Mathew)
:two_hearts:Euphoria