Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans

Abstract Malaria, caused by Plasmodium parasites, is thought to be one of the strongest selective forces that has shaped the genome of modern humans and was endemic in Europe until recent times. Due to its eradication around mid-twentieth century, the potential selective history of malaria in Europe...

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Autores principales:	Pere Gelabert, Iñigo Olalde, Toni de-Dios, Sergi Civit, Carles Lalueza-Fox
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/eebc616743734f4ea3fe6abc547a17a4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:eebc616743734f4ea3fe6abc547a17a42021-12-02T12:32:42ZMalaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans10.1038/s41598-017-01534-52045-2322https://doaj.org/article/eebc616743734f4ea3fe6abc547a17a42017-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01534-5https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Malaria, caused by Plasmodium parasites, is thought to be one of the strongest selective forces that has shaped the genome of modern humans and was endemic in Europe until recent times. Due to its eradication around mid-twentieth century, the potential selective history of malaria in European populations is largely unknown. Here, we screen 224 ancient European genomes from the Upper Palaeolithic to the post-Roman period for 22 malaria-resistant alleles in twelve genes described in the literature. None of the most specific mutations for malaria resistance, like those at G6PD, HBB or Duffy blood group, have been detected among the available samples, while many other malaria-resistant alleles existed well before the advent of agriculture. We detected statistically significant differences between ancient and modern populations for the ATP2B4, FCGR2B and ABO genes and we found evidence of selection at IL-10 and ATP2B4 genes. However it is unclear whether malaria is the causative agent, because these genes are also involved in other immunological challenges. These results suggest that the selective force represented by malaria was relatively weak in Europe, a fact that could be associated to a recent historical introduction of the severe malaria pathogen.Pere GelabertIñigo OlaldeToni de-DiosSergi CivitCarles Lalueza-FoxNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Pere Gelabert Iñigo Olalde Toni de-Dios Sergi Civit Carles Lalueza-Fox Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
description	Abstract Malaria, caused by Plasmodium parasites, is thought to be one of the strongest selective forces that has shaped the genome of modern humans and was endemic in Europe until recent times. Due to its eradication around mid-twentieth century, the potential selective history of malaria in European populations is largely unknown. Here, we screen 224 ancient European genomes from the Upper Palaeolithic to the post-Roman period for 22 malaria-resistant alleles in twelve genes described in the literature. None of the most specific mutations for malaria resistance, like those at G6PD, HBB or Duffy blood group, have been detected among the available samples, while many other malaria-resistant alleles existed well before the advent of agriculture. We detected statistically significant differences between ancient and modern populations for the ATP2B4, FCGR2B and ABO genes and we found evidence of selection at IL-10 and ATP2B4 genes. However it is unclear whether malaria is the causative agent, because these genes are also involved in other immunological challenges. These results suggest that the selective force represented by malaria was relatively weak in Europe, a fact that could be associated to a recent historical introduction of the severe malaria pathogen.
format	article
author	Pere Gelabert Iñigo Olalde Toni de-Dios Sergi Civit Carles Lalueza-Fox
author_facet	Pere Gelabert Iñigo Olalde Toni de-Dios Sergi Civit Carles Lalueza-Fox
author_sort	Pere Gelabert
title	Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
title_short	Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
title_full	Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
title_fullStr	Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
title_full_unstemmed	Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans
title_sort	malaria was a weak selective force in ancient europeans
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/eebc616743734f4ea3fe6abc547a17a4
work_keys_str_mv	AT peregelabert malariawasaweakselectiveforceinancienteuropeans AT inigoolalde malariawasaweakselectiveforceinancienteuropeans AT tonidedios malariawasaweakselectiveforceinancienteuropeans AT sergicivit malariawasaweakselectiveforceinancienteuropeans AT carleslaluezafox malariawasaweakselectiveforceinancienteuropeans
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Malaria was a weak selective force in ancient Europeans

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