Did you know that difficulty in quitting smoking is coming from Neanderthals?
They passed on genes involved in type 2 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, depression, and smoking addiction.
A gene variant associated with a difficulty in stopping smoking should be found to have a Neanderthal origin.
Gene variants influenced type 2 diabetes, long-term depression, lupus, biliary cirrhosis, and Crohn’s disease. In Crohn’s, Neanderthals passed on genes that increase or decrease the risk of disease.
Neanderthal DNA is low in regions of the human X chromosome and testes-specific genes. This suggests that some Neanderthal-modern human hybrids had reduced fertility and in some cases were sterile.
Neanderthal DNA
Neanderthal DNA is in genes that influence skin and hair characteristics, and humans have inherited some skin diseases from them.
Multiple Sclerosis , an illness more frequent in Northern Hemisphere has something to do with Neanderthals.
The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals and those with more DNA from our cousins may have worse forms of respiratory disease.
Genes from Neanderthals influence how we interact with HIV, influenza A and hepatitis C. These genes helped our ancestors fend off ancient RNA viruses that they encountered upon leaving Africa. So…
In conclusion Neanderthals have left a legacy in our ilnesses.
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