Arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) genetic diversity and traditional subsistence: a worldwide population survey.

ABSTRACT: Arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) is involved in human physiological responses to a variety of xenobiotic compounds, including common therapeutic drugs and exogenous chemicals present in the diet and the environment. Many questions remain about the evolutionary mechanisms that have led to the high prevalence of slow acetylators in the human species. Evidence from recent surveys of NAT2 gene variation suggests that NAT2 slow-causing variants might have become targets of positive selection as a consequence of the shift in modes of subsistence and lifestyle in human populations in the last 10,000 years. We aimed to test more extensively the hypothesis that slow acetylation prevalence in humans is related to the subsistence strategy adopted by the past populations. To this end, published

SUBMITTER: Sabbagh A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3071824 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature