Greenlandic Inuit show genetic signatures of diet and climate adaptation
University College London · University of California, Berkeley · +12 more institutions
Abstract
The indigenous people of Greenland, the Inuit, have lived for a long time in the extreme conditions of the Arctic, including low annual temperatures, and with a specialized diet rich in protein and fatty acids, particularly omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). A scan of Inuit genomes for signatures of adaptation revealed signals at several loci, with the strongest signal located in a cluster of fatty acid desaturases that determine PUFA levels. The selected alleles are associated with multiple metabolic and anthropometric phenotypes and have large effect sizes for weight and height, with the effect on height replicated in Europeans. By analyzing membrane lipids, we found that the selected alleles…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 46.61
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 67
Authors
19- MFMatteo FumagalliCorresponding
University College London, University of California, Berkeley
- IMIda Moltke
University of Copenhagen
- NGNiels Grarup
University of Copenhagen, Novo Nordisk Foundation
- FRFernando Racimo
University of California, Berkeley
- PBPeter Bjerregaard
Ilisimatusarfik, University of Southern Denmark
Topics & keywords
- Biology
- Polyunsaturated fatty acid
- Adaptation (eye)
- Genome
- Triglyceride
- Zoology
- Evolutionary biology
- Gene
- Life below water