john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Mailbag: Hidden lactase persistence alleles?

Sat, 2010-02-20 12:15 -- John Hawks

I just noticed this new article that I thought you might be interested in, suggesting that lactase persistence known genetics can't currently wholly explain the trait in large regions around Africa and Europe:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/36/abstract

Thanks. I've been studying that one for a couple of days. It looks like pretty suggestive evidence that there should be some as-yet-undiscovered lactase persistence allele in West Africa, or maybe a gene conversion from one of the already-known African mutations.

See also Razib on this paper:

http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2010/02/what_genes_cant_tell_us_about.php

Tags: 
Africa
recent evolution
diet
recent selection

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