By 2020 researchers claimed to have discovered a Neanderthal Covid gene that decrease our ability to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus that Covid-19 causes. Now, a new research project in Japan has identified a group of three genes in human DNA, inherited from Neanderthals, that help the cells of the body as it tries to defeat the invading viruses. These genes may reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19 “by about 20%.”
Identification of “Neanderthal covid-19 resistant genes”
The team of researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) in Japan and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany found that crossbreeding between modern and Neanderthal humans meant we inherited the gene. about 60,000 years ago. Scientists have now determined that having this gene can help you fight SARS-CoV-2, which affects people in different ways, from any symptoms to respiratory failure and death.
Last year in one Ancient origins news article I discussed the findings of Professors Svante Pääbo, who heads the OIST Human Evolutionary Genomics Unit in Japan, and his colleague Hugo Zeberg. The pair of genetic scientists published a controversial report in Nature stating that “the largest genetic risk factor identified to date, which doubled the risk of developing severe Covid-19 when infected with the virus, was inherited from Neanderthals.” The paper said the Neanderthal gene “increases the risk of developing severe Covid-19.”
Now, it has been found that the same group of genes is beneficial for about 20% of people and can help reduce the risk of serious illness and hospitalization with Covid-19. This new research has just been published in PNAS.
Recent research shows that the gene called the “Neanderthal Covid gene” can affect our ability to develop severe Covid-19 symptoms. ( Danger production / Adobe Stock)
22% Lower risk of severe Covid-19 symptoms
The same pair of scientists have published a new study based on the findings of a 2020 study of Genetics of mortality in critical care ( GenOMICC). This UK-based project analyzed the genome sequences of “2,244 people who developed severe COvid-19” and identified additional genetic regions on four chromosomes that affect how individuals respond to the virus when they become infected. The research shows human genes “almost identical to those found in three Neanderthals: one Croatian Neanderthal about 50,000 years old and two Neanderthals, one about 70,000 years old and the other about 120,000 years old, from southern Siberia.”
Scientists are clear that conditions such as diabetes and obesity greatly amplify the effects of Covid-19. However, “surprisingly,” this second genetic factor influences Covid-19 outcomes in the opposite direction to the first genetic factor, “providing protection rather than increasing the risk of developing severe Covid-19.” For those who want to keep abreast of developments in DNA science, this Neanderthal variant was discovered on chromosome 12. And, to be precise, having this gene reduces the risk of requiring intensive care after Covid infection. -19 by 22%.
Geographic distribution of the Neanderthal Covid gene that may reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19. ( OpenStreetMap / 1000 Genomes Project )
How Neanderthal genetic variants affect us today
Trying to understand how this genetic variant of the Neolithic affects the results of Covid-19, the research team examined three genes located in a newly identified region. Known as the OAS , the body produces these defensive enzymes after viral infection and stimulates other enzymes that attack and degrade the viral genomes housed in infected cells. In a press release from the Postgraduate University of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Professor Pääbo explained that “it is quite surprising that, although Neanderthals became extinct about 40,000 years ago, their immune system it still influences us in a positive and negative way today ”
In their new study, the researchers also looked at how new Neanderthal-like genetic variants “changed in frequency after ending in modern humans about 60,000 years ago.” Professor Pääbo commented that enzymes encoded by the Neanderthal variant “are more efficient” in reducing the possibility of serious consequences for SARS-CoV-2 infections. In addition, the results of the new study show that the Neanderthal variant “increased in frequency after the last ice age and then increased in frequency again during the last millennium.”
The bad Neanderthal gene is nothing Japanese
The fact that Neanderthals had developed this gene more than 60,000 years ago suggested to researchers that it must have been beneficial in the past as well, “perhaps during other outbreaks of RNA virus diseases,” said Professor Pääbo. The gene is currently present in about half of people living outside Africa and about 30% of people in Japan.
Going back for a moment to last year’s document that identified a Neanderthal gene that posed “a significant health risk”. Japanese scientists must have been a little relieved to discover in their new study that this negative genetic variant inherited from Neanderthals is not very measurable in modern Japanese populations.
Top image: New research has found that a group of genes, called Neanderthal covid genes, reduce the risk of developing severe Covid-19 by about 20% and have been inherited from Neanderthals. Source: Bjorn Oberg / Karolinska Institutet
By Ashley Cowie