Natural Selection on Genes Related to Cardiovascular Health in High-Altitude Adapted Andeans.

ABSTRACT: The increase in red blood cell mass (polycythemia) due to the reduced oxygen availability (hypoxia) of residence at high altitude or other conditions is generally thought to be beneficial in terms of increasing tissue oxygen supply. However, the extreme polycythemia and accompanying increased mortality due to heart failure in chronic mountain sickness most likely reduces fitness. Tibetan highlanders have adapted to high altitude, possibly in part via the selection of genetic variants associated with reduced polycythemic response to hypoxia. In contrast, high-altitude-adapted Quechua- and Aymara-speaking inhabitants of the Andean Altiplano are not protected from high-altitude polycythemia in the same way, yet they exhibit other adaptive features for which the genetic underpinnings remain ob

SUBMITTER: Crawford JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5673686 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature