Researchers at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) have studied the genome of the Siberian Eskimos and Inuit of northern Canada. Well, these scientists have discovered that a genetic variant that helped them in the past to survive low temperatures, today makes them prone to hypoglycemia and is a factor in increasing infant mortality among their populations.
The particular genetic variant, known as CPT1A, is unique to certain Siberian and Canadian Inuit communities . It is an enzyme that helped them to better metabolize and process the high-fat diets they consumed and thus be able to survive in the cold climate typical of their Arctic habitat.
But according to the results of the study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics , the CPT1A enzyme currently favors the appearance of hypoglycemia – low blood sugar levels – and the increase in infant mortality . According to Florian Clemente, from the Division of Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the study, “the case illustrates the medical importance of having an evolutionary understanding of the past. The health impacts of evolution should be further considered. “
To verify this, the scientists analyzed the genomes of 25 individuals from northern Siberia and compared their sequences with another 25 from Europe and 11 from eastern Asia. The researchers note that the CPT1A variant is present in 68% of Siberian Eskimos, and absent in other populations with the same genome. CPT1A is part of the digestion process of high-fat acids, such as those in meat. This would explain its influence on these populations due to the unsustainability of agriculture in the Arctic regions, which feed exclusively on marine mammals.
