Could having a certain Neanderthal gene make some people more sensitive to pain?
shows that some of us present-day humans carry a Neanderthal gene that causes us to be more pain-sensitive and to have more pain. According to scientists, nerve cells have a special ion channel that plays a key role in pain signals sent to the brain. Findings from the new study show that people who inherited the Neanderthal gene of this ion channel have more pain.
Using available Neanderthal DNA allows scientists to identify genetic changes present in Neanderthals. Hugo Zeberg, Svante Pääbo ,and their colleagues--researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Karolinska Institutet--found that some people especially those from Central and South America and Europe, have inherited a Neanderthal gene that encodes an ion channel that initiates the sensation of pain.
The researchers examined data from 362,944 people in a large United Kingdom population study and found that people who carry the Neanderthal variant of the ion channel have more pain. If you have that gene, you have more pain similar to someone eight years your senior. According to lead author Zeberg,"The Neanderthal variant of the ion channel carries three amino acid differences to the common, 'modern' variant.
Due to gene flow from Neanderthals, the three substitutions were found in 0.4% of people living in 2020, leading to heightened pain sensitivity. On a molecular level, the Neanderthal ion channel is more easily activated which may explain why people who inherited it have a lowered pain threshold."Whether Neanderthals experienced more pain is difficult to say because pain is also modulated both in the spinal cord and in the brain," says Pääbo.
In years to come, the Neanderthal Genome Project will undoubtedly reveal many more aspects of our current-day selves as they relate to our earlier ancestors.Zeberg et al. . A Neanderthal sodium channel increases pain sensitivity in present-day humans. Current Biology, 30, 1-5. DOI.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.06/045
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