Re: Genome Study: Africans Have Gene For Salt Retention


Rich Travsky wrote:
Coupla interesting bits in this article but I want to focus on the
salt retention...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1725177,00.html
<snip>

The article cited in that Guardian report is here:

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040072

OR

http://tinyurl.com/ox736

Benjamin F. Voight, Sridhar Kudaravalli, Xiaoquan Wen, Jonathan K.
Pritchard
A Map of Recent Positive Selection in the Human Genome
Public Library of Science Biology
Volume 4 | Issue 3 | MARCH 2006

The Guardian reprt had this passage:
"While the genetic code of the Africans tested revealed a gene that
makes our bodies retain salt that would be lost through sweating,
the Europeans and Asians had a version that causes more salt
to be released, possibly acting as a defence against salt-induced
hypertension (high blood pressure)."

I don't see anything specifically comparing Africans with Europeans
and Asians re: a gene for salt-sensitive hypertension.
The Africans in the study were 60 Yoruba from Nigeria.
The article in PLOSB does mention that some previous studies of
"Africans" included African-Americans, and so were unreliable;
the only study that has been in the popular press recently re:
Africans and salt-induced hypertension was one that specualted that
the reason that African-Americans are more prone to salt-related
hypertension was because they are the descendants of people
selected for a tendency to salt retention by the odious conditions
in slave ships; those who were more efficient at retaining salt
survived
to produce offspring in the Americas. But that argument, of course,
says little about the African-Americans' ancestral populations in
Africa.

I note that Jonathan Pritchard is the last author in the list,
suggesting
that he would be the least senior of teh bunch, and hence perhaps the
least able to give a reliable, non-sensationalised summary of the
contents
of the study.
I smell rampant self-promotion at the expense of understanding.

-
Daryl Krupa

.

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