Research suggests that your love of carbohydrates like bread and pasta may stem from ancient DNA. According to the study from the University at Buffalo (UB) and the Jackson Laboratory (JAX), humans may have developed the ability to begin digesting these foods in the mouth long before they began farming and perhaps even before they diverged from Neanderthals. We.
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Diet is influenced by genes
The research found that the first duplication of genes for starch-digesting saliva may have occurred more than 800,000 years ago, setting the scene for the genetic changes that shape our diets today.
Duplication is a type of mutation that involves the production of one or more copies of a gene. Experts have known for some time that humans have multiple copies of a gene that enables starches into complex carbohydrates — which include foods like potatoes, rice and some fruits and vegetables — to be broken down in the mouth.
It provides the first step in digesting these foods, and the more copies of these genes people have, the better equipped they are to break down carbohydrates. However, it has been difficult for researchers to determine when and how the number of these genes increased.
The new study, led by the University at Buffalo (UB) and the Jackson Laboratory (JAX) in the US, found that duplication of a gene – known as the salivary amylase gene (AMY1) – not only shaped human adaptation to starchy Have helped. Foods, but may have existed more than 800,000 years ago, long before the birth of farming.
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ancient origin
According to scientists, amylase is an enzyme that not only breaks down starch into glucose but also gives bread its taste. Corresponding author Omar Gokkumen, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences within the UB College of Arts and Sciences, said: “The idea is that the more amylase genes you have, the more amylase you can produce and the more starch you can effectively break down.” Can digest. ,
Analyzing the genomes of 68 ancient humans, including a 45,000-year-old specimen from Siberia, researchers found that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers already had duplicate copies of the gene.
This suggests that humans were roaming Eurasia with a wide variety of these genes long before humans began domesticating plants and eating starches in large quantities. The study also found that AMY1 gene duplication occurred in Neanderthals and Denisovans.
Kwondo Kim, one of the lead authors of the study from the Lee lab at JAX, said: “This suggests that the AMY1 gene may have first duplicated more than 800,000 years ago, well before humans diverged from Neanderthals and .Early duplications in our genome laid the groundwork for significant variation in the amylase region, allowing humans to adapt to changing diets as starch consumption increased dramatically with the advent of new technologies and lifestyles. It increased.
The research also highlights that while early hunter-gatherers had multiple gene copies, European farmers have seen an increase in the average number of AMY1 copies over the past 4,000 years, possibly due to their starch-rich diet. The study, published in the journal Science, used genome mapping and sequencing to map the AMY1 gene region in detail.
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