A new study has found that people who carry a version of a gene inherited from Neanderthals have a lower risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and death from Covid-19.
The gene, known as OAS1, was incorporated into the human genome after our ancestors mated with the human relative now extinct about 60,000 years ago.
The OAS1 gene controls a protein of the same name that is involved in the body’s response to viruses.
The inherited version of Neanderthals is less common in society, but offers greater protection against coronavirus, the researchers say.
The finding contradicts previous research, which found that a cluster of inherited Neanderthal genes may increase the risk of serious Covid-19 disease.
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A new study has found that a specific version of a gene, known as OAS1, inherited from Neanderthals reduces the risk of serious illness, hospitalization, and death from Covid-19.
The study, led by McGill University in Canada, examined in detail the genetic code that produces different versions of OAS1.
A position within the gene, known as rs10774671, has two main forms. The most common form is the ‘A’ variant, but the ancestral version of Neanderthals is called the ‘G’ variant.
“The ancestral variant (rs10774671-G) is the main allele of African populations and was fixed in the Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes,” the researchers write.
The difference between the two gene variants is that A leads to the production of many different types (or isoforms) of OAS1 protein in varying amounts, while type G leads to a large amount of a specific isoform of OAS1 protein, called p46.
“The amount each of us has of any isoform appears to be determined by a unique change in the genetic code of the gene encoding the protein, that is, the region of the genome that contains the plan to build that protein,” he said. author of the study, Dr. Pietzner, of Cambridge University, told MailOnline.
The researchers say the p46 version of the protein is longer than the others and has higher antiviral activity than other types of OAS1.
When people have high levels of the p46 version of OAS1, produced by the Neanderthal gene, they have less than a third of the risk of becoming infected as a person with low levels of p46 OAS1, according to the data.
And if they become infected, these people only have a nine percent risk of hospitalization and a five percent risk of developing “very serious” Covid as a person with low p46 levels.
This gene was embedded in the human genomes after our ancestors mated with the now extinct human relative who lived about 60,000 years ago.
The G form of the gene originally appeared in Homo sapiens through the joy of our predecessor with our sister species millennia ago and has survived to the present day.
It lasted so long because of its ability to fight disease, offering a survival benefit.
“This protective form of OAS1 is present in sub-Saharan Africans, but it was lost when the ancestors of today’s Europeans emigrated out of Africa,” study co-author Brent Richards of Reuters told Reuters. Jewish General Hospital and McGill University of Montreal.
“It was then reintroduced into the European population by mating with Neanderthals.”
Researchers believe that drugs targeting the OAS1 gene and increasing the amount of p46 in the system could lead to effective treatment for Covid-19.
A previous study from the University of Edinburgh identified five genes that can negatively influence a patient’s chances of survival after capturing Covid-19.
One of these was the common version of OAS1 (variant A), which reinforced the suggestion that the type of OAS1 gene that a person inherits may play an important role in the progression and severity of the disease.
Meanwhile, a previous study found that some genes inherited from Neanderthals may have a negative impact on the chances of survival of coronavirus patients.
Researchers in Germany and Sweden found that a specific cluster of Neanderthal genes had been linked to an increased risk of death from Covid-19.
In a study of 3,199 hospital patients with coronavirus in Italy and Spain, they found that this genetic signature was related to more serious diseases.
They found that people who developed such a bad Covid-19 that they needed a ventilator were 70% more likely to have the genetic variation.