Agrippa
08-28-2010, 02:18 PM
Just some time ago some studies reported a possible correlation with a faster AIDS-progression and haplogroup I, now another study claims an even stronger case with coronary heart diseases:
“We set out to determine if men with differing types of Y chromosome were at differing risk of heart disease. We tested nearly 3,000 British males, and found that those carrying the I-haplogroup variant had a 55 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease.”
Since the I-haplogroup is not so prevalent in southern parts of Europe, an interesting speculation is whether it contributes to the higher levels of coronary heart disease in the north compared to the south – however, this requires further research and testing.
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2010/08/y-chromosome-haplogroup-i-and-heart.html
If that's true and no other factors are involved, which were not analysed in the study, that would be significant.
Yet it could be another possibility if the assumption is correct, that this trait of "I" was not always disadvantageous in the past and had a positive effect as well.
Probably that's once more a case for selection working on the various haplogroups, both yDNA and mtDNA.
I would suggest, that going after the last results from prehistoric populations, that f.e. mtDNA-haplogroup N in Europe must have had some sort of disadvantage too, even though I have no idea which kind of - probably not at all, but there is this possibility.
So the current distributions might not just reflect ancestry, but also selective trends. After all, even a very minor advantage or disadvantage could pay off in some thousands of years, once two alternative versions for the y- or mtDNA are available in the genpool.
“We set out to determine if men with differing types of Y chromosome were at differing risk of heart disease. We tested nearly 3,000 British males, and found that those carrying the I-haplogroup variant had a 55 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease.”
Since the I-haplogroup is not so prevalent in southern parts of Europe, an interesting speculation is whether it contributes to the higher levels of coronary heart disease in the north compared to the south – however, this requires further research and testing.
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2010/08/y-chromosome-haplogroup-i-and-heart.html
If that's true and no other factors are involved, which were not analysed in the study, that would be significant.
Yet it could be another possibility if the assumption is correct, that this trait of "I" was not always disadvantageous in the past and had a positive effect as well.
Probably that's once more a case for selection working on the various haplogroups, both yDNA and mtDNA.
I would suggest, that going after the last results from prehistoric populations, that f.e. mtDNA-haplogroup N in Europe must have had some sort of disadvantage too, even though I have no idea which kind of - probably not at all, but there is this possibility.
So the current distributions might not just reflect ancestry, but also selective trends. After all, even a very minor advantage or disadvantage could pay off in some thousands of years, once two alternative versions for the y- or mtDNA are available in the genpool.