The ancestors of modern humans propagated genes causing diabetes

Latin Americans inherited from Neanderthals the gene variant that increases the risk of diabetes, the researchers found. According to a new study by Harvard Medical School, high-risk option is for 25% more likely to lead to the development of diabetes, but if a person inherits from parents two copies of this option, the probability of disease increased by at least 50%, reports BBC.

High-risk gene SLC16A11 has been found in about half of people with the genes inherited from the ancestors of Indians and 20% of East Asians. But in Africans and Europeans it is a rarity. Gene SLC16A11, which is associated with an increased risk of diabetes type 2, was found in the genome of the Neanderthal from Denisova Cave in Siberia, reports the BBC.

In the body of modern humans it was introducedthroughinterbreeding of human ancestors. Basically, about 2% of the genome of non-Africans was inherited from Neanderthals who lived in Europe and Asia. SLC16A11 relates to genes encoding proteins that carry metabolites.