High Frequency of Lactose Intolerance in a Prehistoric Hunter-gatherer Population in Northern Europe

Overview

Journal BMC Evol Biol

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Biology

Date 2010 Apr 1

PMID 20353605

Citations 21

Authors

Helena Malmstrom

Anna Linderholm

Kerstin Liden

Jan Stora

Petra Molnar

Gunilla Holmlund

Mattias Jakobsson

Anders Gotherstrom

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Genes and culture are believed to interact, but it has been difficult to find direct evidence for the process. One candidate example that has been put forward is lactase persistence in adulthood, i.e. the ability to continue digesting the milk sugar lactose after childhood, facilitating the consumption of raw milk. This genetic trait is believed to have evolved within a short time period and to be related with the emergence of sedentary agriculture.

Results: Here we investigate the frequency of an allele (-13910*T) associated with lactase persistence in a Neolithic Scandinavian population. From the 14 individuals originally examined, 10 yielded reliable results. We find that the T allele frequency was very low (5%) in this Middle Neolithic hunter-gatherer population, and that the frequency is dramatically different from the extant Swedish population (74%).

Conclusions: We conclude that this difference in frequency could not have arisen by genetic drift and is either due to selection or, more likely, replacement of hunter-gatherer populations by sedentary agriculturalists.

Citing Articles

Evolution of Lactase Persistence: Turbo-Charging Adaptation in Growth Under the Selective Pressure of Maternal Mortality?.

Wells J, Pomeroy E, Stock J Front Physiol. 2021; 12:696516.

PMID: 34497534 PMC: 8419441. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.696516.

The genomic history of the Aegean palatial civilizations.

Clemente F, Unterlander M, Dolgova O, Amorim C, Coroado-Santos F, Neuenschwander S Cell. 2021; 184(10):2565-2586.e21.

PMID: 33930288 PMC: 8127963. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.039.

The Pastoral Origin of Semiotically Functional Tonal Organization of Music.

Nikolsky A Front Psychol. 2020; 11:1358.

PMID: 32848961 PMC: 7396614. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01358.

Molecular inferences about the genus Hypostomus Lacépède, 1803 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae): a review.

Mezzomo P, Mielniczki-Pereira A, Sausen T, Marinho J, Cansian R Mol Biol Rep. 2020; 47(8):6179-6192.

PMID: 32519308 DOI: 10.1007/s11033-020-05542-z.

The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon.

Malmstrom H, Gunther T, Svensson E, Juras A, Fraser M, Munters A Proc Biol Sci. 2019; 286(1912):20191528.

PMID: 31594508 PMC: 6790770. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1528.

References

Holden C, Mace R . Phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of lactose digestion in adults. Hum Biol. 1997; 69(5):605-28. View

Bersaglieri T, Sabeti P, Patterson N, Vanderploeg T, Schaffner S, Drake J . Genetic signatures of strong recent positive selection at the lactase gene. Am J Hum Genet. 2004; 74(6):1111-20. PMC: 1182075. DOI: 10.1086/421051. View

Kuokkanen M, Butzow R, Rasinpera H, Medrek K, Nilbert M, Malander S . Lactase persistence and ovarian carcinoma risk in Finland, Poland and Sweden. Int J Cancer. 2005; 117(1):90-4. DOI: 10.1002/ijc.21130. View

Yang D, Eng B, Waye J, Dudar J, Saunders S . Technical note: improved DNA extraction from ancient bones using silica-based spin columns. Am J Phys Anthropol. 1998; 105(4):539-43. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199804)105:4<539::AID-AJPA10>3.0.CO;2-1. View

Burger J, Kirchner M, Bramanti B, Haak W, Thomas M . Absence of the lactase-persistence-associated allele in early Neolithic Europeans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007; 104(10):3736-41. PMC: 1820653. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0607187104. View

Haak W, Forster P, Bramanti B, Matsumura S, Brandt G, Tanzer M . Ancient DNA from the first European farmers in 7500-year-old Neolithic sites. Science. 2005; 310(5750):1016-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1118725. View

Beja-Pereira A, Caramelli D, Lalueza-Fox C, Vernesi C, Ferrand N, Casoli A . The origin of European cattle: evidence from modern and ancient DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006; 103(21):8113-8. PMC: 1472438. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0509210103. View

Tishkoff S, Reed F, Ranciaro A, Voight B, Babbitt C, Silverman J . Convergent adaptation of human lactase persistence in Africa and Europe. Nat Genet. 2006; 39(1):31-40. PMC: 2672153. DOI: 10.1038/ng1946. View

Enattah N, Sahi T, Savilahti E, Terwilliger J, Peltonen L, Jarvela I . Identification of a variant associated with adult-type hypolactasia. Nat Genet. 2002; 30(2):233-7. DOI: 10.1038/ng826. View

10.

Itan Y, Powell A, Beaumont M, Burger J, Thomas M . The origins of lactase persistence in Europe. PLoS Comput Biol. 2009; 5(8):e1000491. PMC: 2722739. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000491. View

11.

Tenesa A, Navarro P, Hayes B, Duffy D, Clarke G, Goddard M . Recent human effective population size estimated from linkage disequilibrium. Genome Res. 2007; 17(4):520-6. PMC: 1832099. DOI: 10.1101/gr.6023607. View

12.

Malmstrom H, Svensson E, Gilbert M, Willerslev E, Gotherstrom A, Holmlund G . More on contamination: the use of asymmetric molecular behavior to identify authentic ancient human DNA. Mol Biol Evol. 2007; 24(4):998-1004. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msm015. View

13.

Anderung C, Bouwman A, Persson P, Carretero J, Ortega A, Elburg R . Prehistoric contacts over the Straits of Gibraltar indicated by genetic analysis of Iberian Bronze Age cattle. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005; 102(24):8431-5. PMC: 1150856. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0503396102. View

14.

Linderholm A, Malmstrom H, Liden K, Holmlund G, Gotherstrom A . Cryptic contamination and phylogenetic nonsense. PLoS One. 2008; 3(5):e2316. PMC: 2384008. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002316. View

15.

Jakobsson M . COMPASS: a program for generating serial samples under an infinite sites model. Bioinformatics. 2009; 25(21):2845-7. DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btp534. View

16.

Sampietro M, Gilbert M, Lao O, Caramelli D, Lari M, Bertranpetit J . Tracking down human contamination in ancient human teeth. Mol Biol Evol. 2006; 23(9):1801-7. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msl047. View

17.

Coelho M, Luiselli D, Bertorelle G, Lopes A, Seixas S, Destro-Bisol G . Microsatellite variation and evolution of human lactase persistence. Hum Genet. 2005; 117(4):329-39. DOI: 10.1007/s00439-005-1322-z. View

18.

Kolman C, Tuross N . Ancient DNA analysis of human populations. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2000; 111(1):5-23. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(200001)111:1<5::AID-AJPA2>3.0.CO;2-3. View

19.

Malmstrom H, Gilbert M, Thomas M, Brandstrom M, Stora J, Molnar P . Ancient DNA reveals lack of continuity between neolithic hunter-gatherers and contemporary Scandinavians. Curr Biol. 2009; 19(20):1758-62. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.017. View

20.

Malmstrom H, Stora J, Dalen L, Holmlund G, Gotherstrom A . Extensive human DNA contamination in extracts from ancient dog bones and teeth. Mol Biol Evol. 2005; 22(10):2040-7. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msi195. View