ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, DENIS-ART
A globally rare variant of the growth hormone receptor also seen in Denisovans and Neanderthals may have helped our ancestors survive periods without food, a new study published on September 24 in Science Advances claims.
Reconstructing the evolutionary history of a particular variant of the growth hormone receptor gene (GHR) variant—the so-called GHRd3 variant, which is defined by a deletion of the gene’s third exon—researchers have found that its frequency declined sharply around 40,000 years ago. Follow-up experiments in mice pointed to a potential explanation for why: the deletion appeared to limit male animals’ size when fed a calorie-restricted diet. This sort of growth limitation could help males survive lean times but limit their reproductive success in times of plenty.
“This paper is exciting because it illustrates the power of combining evolutionary analyses of modern and ancient genomes with in-depth molecular characterization of the effects of ...
