Many people who retain the ability to digest milk can trace their ancestry to Europe, according to a group of scientists brought together to work on a multidisciplinary project called LECHE (
Lactase Persistence in the early Cultural History of Europe).
Lactose digestion and the evolutionary genetics of
lactase persistence. Hum Genet 2009; 124(6):579-591.
In one of the initial presentations of the MR approach, the potential to study milk intake using the then recently identified genetic variant underlying
lactase persistence (LP), rs4988235, was proposed (4).
Convergent adaptation of human
lactase persistence in Africa and Europe.
This
lactase persistence is prevalent only in some populations around the world such as in Northern Europe.
The findings provide strong evidence that
lactase persistence evolved in human populations as a dietary adaptation.
Mark presented on the issue of "Lapsed Vegetarians" at NAVS Vegetarian Summerfest, and recently researched the genetics and history of
lactase persistence and how official attitudes toward dairy in the U.S.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Intestinal lactase activity is high in all healthy human babies, but in adults a genetic polymorphism, which acts in cis to the lactase gene, determines high or low messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and activity (
lactase persistence and nonpersistence, respectively).
Among the topics are inferring processes of Neolithic gene-culture co-evolution using genetic and archaeological data: the case of
lactase persistence and dairying, evaluating the appearance and spread of domestic caprines in the southern Levant, early stock-keeping in Greece, the origin of stock-keeping and spread of animal exploitation strategies in the Early and Middle Neolithic of the North European Plain, and zoological data from Late Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in Switzerland about 6000-3500 BC, and earlier Neolithic subsistence in Britain and Ireland as seen through faunal remains and stable isotopes.
These SNPs have strong association with
lactase persistence in different populations.