This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Thursday 7 January 2021
Blame the Neanderthals!
It seems that, on average, around 2% of the DNA in Europeans, Asians and native Americans comes from interbreeding with our Neanderthal ancestors. One such gene produces an enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) that is a good match for the spike protein in Sars-CoV-2 (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/neanderthal-gene-found-many-people-may-open-cells-coronavirus-and-increase-covid-19). DPP4 has already been shown to facilitate the entry of the closely-related MERS virus into human cells. The most common entry for Covid-19 into human cells is via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), so DPP4 essentially provides a 2nd 'door' for this process. There is some very tentative evidence that, having the DPP4 gene, increases the severity of a Covid-19 infection.
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