How Genes from Neanderthals Predispose People to Severe COVID-19

Researchers dissect the Neanderthal-derived region on chromosome 3 that drives severe COVID-19 to zero in on the key causal variants.

Written byAlakananda Dasgupta

| 4 min read

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Microscope image of A549-ACE2 lung cells coinfected with SARS-CoV-2 and a reporter vector containing a key regulatory variant of interest in the region on human chromosome 3

Coinfection of A549-ACE2 lung cells with SARS-CoV-2 and a reporter vector containing a Neanderthal variant from chromosome 3

Image credit:ARINJAY BANERJEE, UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, SASKATOON, CANADA

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One of the biggest lingering questions surrounding COVID-19 is why some people with the disease get sicker than others. While many factors are likely at play, numerous studies suggest a person’s genetics can predispose them to severe disease. Indeed, a genome-wide association study and a COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative dataset specifically point to a 50 kilobase-sized genomic segment on chromosome 3 as a major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19—a segment that, back in 2020, paleogenomicist Svante Pääbo and his collaborator Hugo Zeberg showed was inherited from Neanderthals some 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. However, the genetic variants on this segment—all strongly linked to each other—are legion, so the precise ones that drive its association with severe COVID-19 have remained elusive.

Now, Terence Capellini, a Harvard University human evolutionary biologist, and colleagues have systematically evaluated the more than 600 genetic variants in the region. Ultimately, they homed in on three ...

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Meet the Author

Alakananda Dasgupta
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Alakananda Dasgupta is a freelance science journalist based in New Delhi, India, who contributes to The Scientist. She is a medical doctor and a pathologist by training. In 2018, she combined her interests in science and writing and became a science writer. She has done research previously in the field of immunology and is currently writing a book on the subject.
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