2024-01-14 04:11:09
Researchers have created the world’s largest ancient human gene bank by analyzing the bones and teeth of nearly 5,000 people who lived across Western Europe and Asia 34,000 years ago.
By sequencing ancient human DNA and comparing it to modern samples, the international team of experts mapped the historical spread of genes – and diseases – over time as populations migrated.
The “amazing” results were revealed in four groundbreaking research papers published in the same issue of Nature and provide new biological understanding of debilitating disorders.
The extraordinary research involved a large international team led by Professor Eska Willerslav at the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen, Professor Thomas Varga of the University of Copenhagen and Professor Rasmus Nielsen of the University of California, Berkeley, and included contributions from 175 researchers from around the globe.
The new study found that the genes that significantly increase a person’s risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) were introduced to northwestern Europe about 5,000 years ago by sheep and cattle herders migrating from the east. Photo credit: SayoStudio
The scientists found:
- The surprising origins of neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis
- Why are northern Europeans today taller than southern Europeans?
- How a large migration about 5,000 years ago introduced risk genes into the population of northwestern Europe – and left a legacy of higher rates of MS today
- The president of the Multiple Sclerosis Kindergarten was A advantage At the time it did protect ancient farmers from contracting infectious diseases from their sheep and cattle
- Genes known to increase the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes were exposed to hunter-gatherers
- Future analysis hopes to reveal more about the genetic markers of autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.
Northern Europe has the highest prevalence of MS in the world. A new study has found that the genes that significantly increase a person’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) were introduced into northwestern Europe about 5,000 years ago by shepherds and cattlemen who migrated from the east.
By analyzing the DNA of ancient human bones and teeth found in documented locations across Eurasia, researchers traced the geographic spread of MS from its origins on the Phonetic steppe (an area spanning parts of what are now Ukraine, southwestern Russia, and the western Kazakhstan region).
They discovered that the genetic variations associated with the risk of developing multiple sclerosis ‘travelled’ with the Yamanian people – animal herders who migrated over the Phonetic steppe to northwestern Europe.
These genetic variants provided a survival advantage to the Yamania people, presumably by protecting them from infections from their sheep and cattle. But they also increased the risk of developing multiple sclerosis.
“It must have been a distinct advantage for the Yemeni people to carry the risk genes for multiple sclerosis, even after they arrived in Europe, despite the fact that these genes undoubtedly increased their risk of developing multiple sclerosis,” said Professor Aska Willerslav, jointly at the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen and a colleague from the College of St. ‘Van, an expert in ancient DNA analysis and the project manager.
He added: “These results change our view of the causes of multiple sclerosis and have implications for the way it is treated.”
The age of the samples ranges from the Mesolithic and Neolithic through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Viking Age to the Middle Ages. The oldest genome in the dataset is from a human who lived about 34,000 years ago.
The findings provide an explanation for the ‘north-south gradient’, where there are about twice as many cases of modern MS in northern Europe than in southern Europe, which has long been a mystery to researchers.
From a genetic point of view, the Yemeni people are considered the ancestors of the present-day inhabitants of most of northwestern Europe. Their genetic influence on the population of Southern Europe today is much weaker.
Previous studies have identified 233 genetic variants that increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. These variants, which are also affected by environmental and lifestyle factors, increase the risk of the disease by about 30 percent. The new study found that this modern MS genetic risk profile is also present in bones and teeth that are thousands of years old.
“These results amazed us all. They provide a huge leap forward in our understanding of the evolution of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases. Showing how the lifestyle of our ancestors affected the risk of modern diseases only emphasizes how much we accept the ancient immune systems in the modern world,” he said. Dr. William Barry, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the paper.
Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the ‘insulation’ surrounding the nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. This causes symptom flare-ups, known as relapse, as well as longer-term degeneration, known as progression.
Co-author Professor Lars Foger, Professor of Multiple Sclerosis Research and Consultant Physician at John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, said: “This means we can now understand and seek to treat MS for what it really is: the result of a genetic disease. Adaptation to certain environmental conditions that occurred back in our prehistory.”
Professor Astrid Iverson, another co-author based at the University of Oxford, said: “We lead very different lives to our ancestors in terms of hygiene, nutrition and medical treatment options, and this combined with our evolutionary history means we may be more susceptible to certain diseases than our ancestors were, including Autoimmunity like multiple sclerosis.”
The new findings were made possible by analyzing data held in a unique gene pool of ancient DNA created by researchers over the past five years with funding from the Lundbeck Foundation.
This is the first gene bank of its kind in the world. This has already enabled fascinating new insights into areas ranging from ancient human migrations to genetically determined risk profiles for the development of brain disorders.
By analyzing the bones and teeth of nearly 5,000 ancient humans, held in museum collections across Europe and West Asia, the researchers created DNA profiles from the Mesolithic and Neolithic through the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking Age to the Middle Ages. They compared the ancient DNA data with modern DNA from 400,000 people living in the UK, held in the British Biobank.
“Creating a gene bank of ancient DNA from the past human inhabitants of Eurasia was a massive project, which involved collaboration with museums across the region,” said Willerslav.
He added: “We have demonstrated that our gene pool acts as a precise tool that can give us new insights into human disease, combined with analyzes of today’s human DNA data and input from several other fields of research. That in itself is remarkable, and no doubt has many applications beyond MS research. .”
The team now plans to investigate other neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and psychiatric disorders, including ADHD and schizophrenia.
They have received requests from disease researchers around the world for access to the ancient DNA profiles, and eventually aim to make the gene bank open access.
The research was funded by an 8 million euro grant from the Lundbeck Foundation and was conducted at the Lundbeck Foundation Geogenetics Center at the University of Copenhagen.
Jan Egebjerg, director of research at the Lundbeck Foundation, said: “The rationale for awarding such a large research grant to this project, as the Lundbeck Foundation did back in 2018, was that if everything worked out, it would be a ground-breaking means of gaining a deeper understanding of how architecture developed The genetics underlying brain disorders over time. And brain disorders are our specific focus area.”
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