Carissa Wong is a freelance reporter who holds a PhD in cancer immunology from Cardiff University, in collaboration with the University of Bristol. She was formerly a staff writer at New Scientist magazine covering health, environment, technology, nature and ancient life, and has also written for MailOnline.
Neanderthal gene variants may boost the pain sensitivity of people who carry them and may be most common in populations with prevalent Native American ancestry, a new study finds.
"We extend these findings by studying Latin Americans and showing that these Neanderthal genetic variants are much more common in people with Native American ancestry," Faux said."We also show the type of pain these variants affect, which wasn't known before."In the new study, the scientists analyzed genetic samples collected from more than 5,900 people living in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. On average, the participants had 46% Native American ancestry, 49.
"We know that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred something like 50,000 to 70,000 years ago, and that modern humans first crossed over from Eurasia into the Americas by 15- to 20,000 years ago," Faux said. "When we tested the participants' pain threshold by applying pressure, heat or cold, the gene variants did not affect pain sensitivity, so the Neanderthal variants only affected their response to pinprick pressure," Faux noted.
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