Positive selection of protective variants for type 2 diabetes from the Neolithic onward: a case study in Central Asia.

ABSTRACT: The high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and its uneven distribution among human populations is both a major public health concern and a puzzle in evolutionary biology. Why is this deleterious disease so common, while the associated genetic variants should be removed by natural selection? The 'thrifty genotype' hypothesis proposed that the causal genetic variants were advantageous and selected for during the majority of human evolution. It remains, however, unclear whether genetic data support this scenario. In this study, we characterized patterns of selection at 10 variants associated with type 2 diabetes, contrasting one herder and one farmer population from Central Asia. We aimed at identifying which alleles (risk or protective) are under selection, dating the timing of selective events,

SUBMITTER: Segurel L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3778335 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature