In 2020, researchers claim to have discovered a Neanderthal Covid gene decreased our ability to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Now a new research project in Japan has identified a group of three genes in human DNA that are inherited from Neanderthals assist the cells of the body while trying to defeat invasive viruses. These genes can reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19 by about 20%.
Identification of the “Neanderthal Covid-19 Resistant Gene”
The team of researchers from the Japanese Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany found that cross-breeding between modern humans and Neanderthals meant that we inherited the gene about 60,000 years ago. Scientists have now determined that using this gene can help you fight SARS-CoV-2, which affects people in a variety of ways, from no symptoms to respiratory failure and death.
Last year in a Ancient origins in the news article, I discussed the findings of Professor Svante Pääbo, who leads the Unit for Human Evolution Genomics at OIST in Japan, and his colleague Hugo Zeberg. The few genetic scientists have a controversial report in Nature claims that “the largest genetic risk factor so far identified, which doubled the risk of developing serious Covid-19 if infected by the virus, was inherited from Neanderthals.” According to the newspaper, the Neanderthal gene increases the risk of developing severe Covid-19.
It has now been found that the same group of genes is beneficial for about 20% of people, and this may help reduce their risk of becoming seriously ill and being taken up with Covid-19. This new research is just in PNAS.
Recent research shows that the gene called the “Neanderthal Covid gene” can affect our ability to develop severe Covid-19 symptoms. ( Production Perig / Adobe Stock)
22% lower risk of severe Covid-19 symptoms
The same pair of scientists have now published a new study based on the findings of a 2020 study of Genetics of mortality in critical care ( GenOMICC). This UK-based project analyzed the genome sequence of “2,244 people who developed severe COvid-19” and they identified additional genetic regions on four chromosomes that influence individuals ’response to the virus when they become infected. The research shows that human genes are “almost identical to those found in three Neanderthals – a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal from Croatia, and two Neanderthals, one about 70,000 years old and the other about 120,000 years old, from the south of Siberia. ”
The scientists are clear that conditions such as diabetes and obesity greatly enhance the effects of Covid-19. “Surprisingly, however, this second genetic factor influences Covid-19’s results in the opposite direction of the first genetic factor, providing protection rather than increasing the risk of developing serious Covid-19. “For those who would like to keep up to date with developments in DNA science, this Neanderthal variant has been discovered on chromosome 12. And to be precise, the fact that this is a gene reduces the risk of intensive care to Covid -19 infection by about 22%.
Geographical distribution of the Neanderthal Covid gene that may reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19. ( OpenStreetMap / 1000 Genomes project )
How Neanderthal genetic variants affect us today
The research team tried to understand how this Neolithic genetic variant affects the Covid-19 outcomes, and looked at three genes in a newly identified region. Known as OAS , the body produces these defensive enzymes after viral infection and it stimulates other enzymes that attack and degrade the viral genomes found in infected cells. In a press release from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Professor Pääbo said: “It is incredible that, despite the extinction of Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago, our immune system is still on a positive note today. and negatively affected. ”
In their new study, the researchers also analyzed how the newly discovered Neanderthal-like genetic variants ‘changed in frequency after landing in modern humans about 60,000 years ago.’ Professor Pääbo said that the enzymes encoded by the Neanderthal variant were ‘more effective’ in reducing the chance of serious SARS-CoV-2 infections. Furthermore, the results of the new study show that the Neanderthal variant ‘increased in frequency after the last ice age and then increased in frequency again during the last millennium’.
Bad Neanderthal Gen is not a Japanese thing at all
The fact that the Neanderthals developed this no more than 60,000 years ago, the researchers suggested that it should have been beneficial in the past, “perhaps during other disease outbreaks caused by RNA viruses,” Professor Pääbo said. “The gene is present today in about half of the people living outside Africa, and in about 30% of the people in Japan.
To return for a moment to last year’s article identifying a Neanderthal gene that poses a major health risk. The Japanese scientists must have been somewhat relieved to discover in their new study that this negative genetic variant inherited from Neanderthals is almost immeasurable in modern Japanese populations.
Top image: new research has found that a group of genes, called Neanderthal covid genes, reduce the risk of developing serious Covid-19 by about 20% and are inherited from Neanderthals. Source: Bjorn Oberg / Karolinska Institutet
By Ashley Cowie