Neolithic made us taller and more intelligent but more prone to heart
disease
How modern European populations have evolved over the past 50,000 years


Date:
April 6, 2022
Source:
Radboud University Medical Center
Summary:
After the Neolithic, European populations showed an increase in
height and intelligence, reduced skin pigmentation and increased
risk of cardiovascular disease due to genetic changes that lowered
concentrations of 'good' HDL cholesterol. The changes reflect
ongoing evolutionary processes in humans and highlight the impact
the Neolithic revolution had on our lifestyle and health. Research
of these past events offers interesting starting points for today's
science and health care.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== After the Neolithic, European populations showed an increase in height
and intelligence, reduced skin pigmentation and increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to genetic changes that lowered concentrations
of 'good' HDL cholesterol. The changes reflect ongoing evolutionary
processes in humans and highlight the impact the Neolithic revolution
had on our lifestyle and health, write researchers from Nijmegen and
Hannover in Frontiers in Genetics. Research of these past events offers interesting starting points for today's science and health care.


==========================================================================
Just like plants, animals and other organisms, humans are dynamic
organisms with variable traits. Look at how humans behave and their
appearance and you will see differences in skin colour, eating habits, susceptibility to diseases, height and so on. Such external features
are called 'phenotype'. This appearance (phenotype) can be influenced
by, for example, genetic factors, social and cultural habits, eating
behaviour and environmental factors.

Nijmegen scientists, in cooperation with colleagues from the Helmholtz
Center for Infection Research (HZI, Hannover), have investigated whether
they could trace the development of some complex human traits of modern Europeans from, say, 50,000 years B.C. to the present. These are complex
traits such as height and intelligence. In this case, 'complex' means
this trait is not determined by one gene but by dozens or even hundreds of genes. Each of these genes has only a very small effect on such a trait.

Genetic archaeology How can you track down all the genes that interfere
with height? This can be done with a technique called GWAS: genome-wide association studies. You take all human genes (genome) to see which genes
have an effect on height. It's not a causal relationship (you do not know exactly how those genes influence height), but a statistical relationship
(it is always the same genes that show up when height is determined). In
a large population study, you can get a list of genes involved in
human height and compare this list of genes of modern Europeans with
those of our distant ancestors. Archaeological research has unearthed
already more than 800 people whose DNA has been mapped. Ultimately,
this reference gives you a kind of timeline of European height genes,
in which you can search for changes and turning points along the way.

Speeding up evolutionary processes The researchers analyzed not only
height but also other complex features such as skin pigmentation,
weight/BMI, lipid metabolism, intelligence and cardiovascular disease. "In general, we see a clear change of some of these traits before and after
the Neolithic Revolution, as if there was an acceleration of evolutionary processes then," says Mihai Netea from Radboudumc.

The Neolithic (New Stone Age) is an important period in human development, often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution. Wandering hunter-gatherers slowly disappeared and were replaced by locally settled farmers,
resulting in a completely different lifestyle, change of diet, and
different socio-cultural customs.



========================================================================== Height, skin colour, cholesterol Yang Li, researcher at the HZI:
"During this transitional period, we not only found a clear change
in body height, but in skin colour as well. Europeans, for example,
have retained their dark skin colour for a remarkably long time, and
it really lightens during this period. This may be due to migration
from populations in the Middle East with less pigmented skin. In many
genes involved in metabolism and the risk of cardiovascular disease we
saw little change, only with one obvious exception: HDL cholesterol --
often called 'good' cholesterol -- shows a clear decrease. It increases
the risk of arthrosclerosis, but there's a link with intelligence
as well." Intelligence There's a change in genetic factors that leads
to the development of coronary artery disease by means of a decrease
in HDL cholesterol. This raises the question, what is the evolutionary advantage of this lower HDL-cholesterol concentration? Li: "Perhaps it
is in the development of cognitive functions, because cholesterol is fundamental to the development and functioning of the brain. Some minimal changes in genes -- called polymorphisms -- in cholesterol metabolism
have been linked to cognitive functions, while variations in levels of
HDL and LDL have been linked to changes in intelligence, learning and
memory. These are hypotheses, not proofs, but illustrate the importance
of this research, in which we are exploring factors that can influence
the development of complex human traits." Useful for the present This evolutionary research into the change of human traits in Europeans past
can also be useful for the present. Netea: "It helps us to understand the physiology of contemporary humans and we may be able to tailor public
health measures better to specific populations. Research has learned,
for example, that Asian populations already have an increased risk of
metabolic and cardiovascular complications at a lower BMI compared to
European populations.

We can take that into account in prevention strategies. Look at the
mass rural- urban migration, which is accompanied by major changes
in social and cultural habits, eating behaviour and environmental
factors. What will it mean for important human physiological traits,
for evolutionary pressures on human traits and genes, and human diseases
in modern societies?"

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Radboud_University_Medical_Center. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yunus Kuijpers, Jorge Domi'nguez-Andre's, Olivier B. Bakker,
Manoj Kumar
Gupta, Martin Grasshoff, Cheng-Jian Xu, Leo A.B. Joosten, Jaume
Bertranpetit, Mihai G. Netea, Yang Li. Evolutionary Trajectories of
Complex Traits in European Populations of Modern Humans. Frontiers
in Genetics, 2022; 13 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.833190 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220406101723.htm

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