Consanguinity, human evolution, and complex diseases

Consanguinity, human evolution, and complex diseases

There is little information on inbreeding during the critical early years of human existence. However, given the small founding group sizes and restricted mate choices it seems inevitable that intrafamilial reproduction occurred and the resultant levels of inbreeding would have been substantial. Currently, couples related as second cousins or closer (F ≥ 0.0156) and their progeny account for an...

Viral diseases and human evolution.

The interaction of man with viral agents was possibly a key factor shaping human evolution, culture and civilization from its outset. Evidence of the effect of disease, since the early stages of human speciation, through pre-historical times to the present suggest that the types of viruses associated with man changed in time. As human populations progressed technologically, they grew in numbers...

Consanguinity and polygenic diseases: a model for antibody deficiencies.

Primary immunodeficiencies represent a heterogeneous group of disorders of the immune system, predisposing to various types of infections. Among them, common variable immunodeficiency is the most common symptomatic antibody deficiency. It includes several different forms characterized by defects in the terminal stage of B lymphocyte differentiation, leading to markedly reduced immunoglobulin se...

Energy, evolution, and human diseases: an overview.

In the symposium entitled "Transcriptional controls of energy sensing," the authors presented recent advances on 1) AMP kinase, an intracellular energy sensor; 2) PGC-1α (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ co-activator 1α), a transcriptional co-activator that has powerful effects on mitochondria; 3) methylation and demethylation in response to metabolic fluctuations; and 4) FGF21 (fib...

Genome Instability, Evolution and Human Diseases