Scientists have found that in the process of evolution, genes that cause severe hangovers after a meal are becoming more common.
If you save a bottle of good cognac for a rainy day, then that day has already come. University of Pennsylvania scientists Kelsey Johnson and Benjamin Voight decided to analyze the database of the 1000 Genomes Project. This is one of the largest international studies, the aim of which was to compile a catalog of genetic variation of thousands of people, representing 14 populations in Europe, Africa, East Asia, North and South America.
Johnson and Voight tried to look into the future of humanity. After all, we, as a species, continue to evolve. Studying what mutations occur with our genes, we can assume which path the further development of Homo Sapiens will take. The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Geneticists have discovered a total of five so-called "hot spots" that continue to evolve. Two of them are associated with DNA fragments that we inherited from the Neanderthals (from them we received genes that are responsible, among other things, for depression and addiction to tobacco). Another change is associated with the development of the body's resistance to malaria - such mutations were noted mainly in African populations. Another local modification is associated with the production of amino acids in Europeans. Finally, the fifth mutation concerned the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH).
This is a special substance on which the speed and degree of intoxication of a person depends, as well as his propensity to alcoholism. There are several forms of ADH. Some of them help to break down alcohol faster, while the content of toxins in the blood increases dramatically. This leads to a negative reaction to alcohol: nausea, vomiting, weakness, dizziness, etc. Those people who are seriously ill in the morning with a hangover rarely become drunken alcoholics. They have to pay a very high price for the pleasure of crushing a bottle or two. And just genetic mutations towards the "anti-alcohol" version of ADH were observed in 5 populations at once, representing 4 continents.
The authors of the study suggest that natural selection, which took place over the past thousand years, when people actively began to lean on alcohol, helped the spread of this mutation. Alcoholics have a higher mortality rate, and their offspring turned out to be less viable than the children of those who never learned to hangover in the morning.
YAROSLAV KOROBATO