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How Did Natural Selection Shape Human Genes?
A paper proposes that climate favored certain mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms
The Scientist 2004, 18(9):28
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Many selective forces must have influenced human evolution, but the only one that all population geneticists seem to agree upon is malaria. Time and again, studies have identified certain DNA polymorphisms – most famously, the β-globin variant underlying red-cell sickling – that helped people resist this mosquito-borne disease. The reproductive success of such individuals spread these polymorphisms throughout regions where malaria is endemic.
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