在研究初期,美国宾尼法尼亚医学院的陈凯斯指出,SLC24A5基因中的一种氨基酸差异对于欧洲人和西非人之间皮肤差异起到了关键性贡献作用。
浅色皮肤能够使北半球低纬地区居民更好地基于阳光照射在体内形成维生素D。以这项研究作为基础,陈凯斯研究分析了全球各地居民的DNA序列差异性。研究发现一种被命名为A111T的突变,对浅色皮肤遗传表观具有决定意义,存在于每位欧洲人基因中,同时也存在于中东、北非、东非和南印度地区居民。研究显示,该基因突变的所有现存实例都源自相同的一个祖先。
Skin pigmentation lightened progressively to a variable extent, as modern humans emigrated out of Africa, but extreme lightening occurred only in northern Europeans. Yet, loss of pigmentation alone cannot suffice to sustain cutaneous vitamin D3 (VD3) formation at the high latitudes of northern Europe. We hypothesized that loss-of-function mutations in the epidermal structural protein, filaggrin (FLG), could have evolved to sustain adequate VD3 status. Loss of FLG results in reduced generation of trans-urocanic acid, the principal endogenous ultraviolet-B (UV-B) filter in lightly-pigmented individuals. Accordingly, we identified a higher prevalence of FLG mutations in northern European populations when compared to more southern European, Asian and African populations that correlates significantly with differences in circulating 25-OH-VD3 levels in these same populations. By allowing additional UV-B penetration and intracutaneous VD3 formation, the latitude-dependent gradient in FLG mutations, likely together with other concurrent mutations in VD3 metabolic pathways, provide a non-pigment-based mechanism that sustains higher levels of circulating VD3 in northern Europeans. At the time that FLG mutations evolved, xerosis due to FLG deficiency was a lesser price to pay for enhanced VD3 production. Yet, the increase in FLGmutations has inadvertently contributed to an epidemic of atopic diseases that has emerged in recent decades.
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