Humans on evolutionary fast track
There’s a widely held belief that Humans have slowed, if not come to a grinding halt in terms of evolution. Not so says Professor Henry Harpending, an author of a study from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, US. His study findings indicate that in the past 5,000 years, genetic change has occurred at a rate roughly 100 times higher than any other period. Around 7% of human genes are currently going through rapid evolution.
Prof Harpending comments in a BBC interview
“The dogma has been these [differences] are cultural fluctuations, but almost any temperament trait you look at is under strong genetic influences.
“Genes are evolving fast in Europe, Asia and Africa, but almost all of these are unique to their continent of origin,” he added. “We are getting less alike, not merging into a single, mixed humanity.”
This is happening, he said, because “there has not been much flow” between different regions since modern humans left Africa to colonise the rest of the world. And there is no evidence that it is slowing down, he added.
“The technology can’t detect anything beyond about 2,000 years ago, but we see no sign of [human evolution] slowing down. So I would suspect it is continuing,”
Researchers found evidence of recent selection in 7% of all human genes, including lighter skin and blue eyes in northern Europe and partial resistance to diseases, such as malaria, among some African populations.
The researchers propose that there are two factors causing human evolution to speed up.
“One of them is there are a lot more people - the more people you have the more opportunities there are for an advantageous mutation to show up,” said Professor Harpending.
A large population has more genetic variation and allows for more positive selection than a small one.
“The second is environmental change - our diets have changed, we are in radically new environments,” he added. “With a large population size comes lots of new diseases.”
Elaine Warburton
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POSTED IN: Genealogy and DNA, General Genetics and Health, Genetic Engineering, Genetic Future, Genetic Ingenuity, Genetics of Disease
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