In 2020, researchers claimed to have discovered a Covid Neanderthal gene that low our ability to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Now, a new research project in Japan has identified a group of three genes in human DNA, inherited from Neanderthals, that assist the cells of the body while trying to defeat the invading viruses. These genes may reduce the risk of developing Covid-19 severely “by about 20%.”
Identification of “Covid-19 Neanderthal-resistant genes”
The team of researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan (OIST) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany found that the cross between modern and Neanderthal humans meant that we inherited the gene about 60,000 years ago. Scientists have now established that having this gene can help you fight SARS-CoV-2, which affects people in different ways, from lack of symptoms to respiratory failure and death.
Last year in a Ancient origins news article We discussed the findings of professors Svante Pääbo, who heads the Human Evolutionary Genomics Unit at OIST in Japan, and his colleague Hugo Zeberg. The pair of genetic scientists published a controversial report in The nature claiming “the largest genetic risk factor identified to date, doubling the risk of developing severe Covid-19 when infected with the virus, was inherited from Neanderthals.” In fact, the paper said that the Neanderthal gene “increases the risk of developing severe Covid-19.”
Now, the same group of genes has been shown to be beneficial for about 20% of people and may 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 “Covid Neanderthal gene” may impact our ability to develop severe Covid-19 symptoms. ( Production Perig / Adobe Stock)
22% Lower risk of severe symptoms of Covid-19
The same pair of scientists have now published a new study based on the findings of a 2020 study by Genetics of mortality in critical care ( GenOMICC). This UK-based project looked at the genome sequences of “2,244 people who developed severe COvid-19” and identified additional genetic regions on four chromosomes that influence how individuals respond to the virus when infected. The research shows human genes “almost identical to those found in three Neanderthals – a Neanderthal about 50,000 years old in Croatia 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 the results of Covid-19 in the opposite direction to the first genetic factor, “providing protection rather than increasing the risk of developing severe Covid-19”. For those who like to keep abreast of developments in DNA science, this Neanderthal variant was discovered on chromosome 12. And, to be exact, having this gene reduces the risk of requiring intensive therapy after Covid-19 infection. about 22%.
The geographical distribution of the Covid Neanderthal gene 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 Neolithic genetic variant affects Covid-19 results, the research team analyzed three genes located in a newly identified region. Known as the OAS , the body produces these enzymes defensive to viral infection and stimulates other enzymes that attack and degrade viral genomes deposited in infected cells. In a press release from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Professor Pääbo explained that “it is amazing that despite the fact that Neanderthals disappeared about 40,000 years ago, their immune system also influences us. today both positively and negatively ”.
In their new study, the researchers also looked at how newly discovered Neanderthal-like genetic variants “changed in frequency after reaching modern humans about 60,000 years ago.” Professor Pääbo commented that enzymes encoded by the Neanderthal variant “are more effective” in reducing the chances of serious consequences for SARS-CoV-2 infections. Moreover, 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 in the last millennium.”
The evil Neanderthal genus is not a Japanese “thing” at all
The fact that Neanderthals developed this gene more than 60,000 years ago suggested to researchers that it must have been beneficial in the past, “perhaps during other outbreaks of RNA viruses,” said Professor Pääbo. The gene is present today in about half of people living outside Africa and about 30% of people in Japan.
Returning for a moment to last year’s paper that identified a Neanderthal gene that posed a “major health risk.” Japanese scientists must have been somewhat relieved to discover in their new study that this negative genetic variant inherited from Neanderthals is almost immeasurable in modern Japanese populations.
Top image: New research has found that a group of genes, called Neanderthal covide genes, reduce the risk of developing Covid-19 severely by about 20% and have been inherited from Neanderthals. Source: Bjorn Oberg / Karolinska Institute
By Ashley Cowie