Genetics from Harvard University have discovered a mutation in DNA that leads to low human growth. The discovery was made possible by the large-scale study in Peru, where the average height of the residents is 159 centimeters.
A group of scientists took samples of material for study 3000 Peruvians. Among them were direct descendants of the Incas and other tribes of the Andes and descendants from mixed marriages between Spanish colonists and the natives.
In the analysis of the data revealed that the higher was the proportion of “native American” DNA in the genome of volunteers, the lower were their average growth. In the end, scientists found the correlation of this feature with the mutation site of the gene FBN1.
Tellingly, the gene responsible for “assembling” fibrillin-1 — one of the major protein components of connective tissue. Earlier changes were associated only with the development of disease, rather than the “normal” variations in human growth. One of the variations, E1297G, reduces growth of 2.2 inch and two 4.4 cm.
Mutations in this gene shed light on how the ancestors of the Peruvians was adjusting to life on this earth in the past.
Earlier NEWS.ru reported that paleogenetic of Harvard University for the first time have deciphered the DNA of Homo sapiens who lived in Africa in the stone age. To conduct a study on the previous findings did not, as in hot climates the material is poorly preserved.
Suitable for studying the remains were found in the cave, the Noise of Lacquer in the West of Cameroon. This region is considered the ancestral home of the Bantu group of peoples. The biomaterial was extracted from the bones of children aged 4 to 15 years who lived eight thousand and three thousand years ago.
