Hugo Zeberg and Svante Paabo from the Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology of the Max Planck Society (Germany) in autumn 2020 published in the journal Nature, the results of their study. According to them, modern humans inherited from Neanderthals genetic mutations in one of the regions of the third chromosome, which triple the risk of severe COVID-19, hospitalization and the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome, requiring connection to a ventilator. This Neanderthal haplotype (gene cluster) is estimated by Seberg and Paabo to be present in 16% of Europeans and half of the population of South Asia, but completely absent in Africans and East Asians. Later scientists also found and a protective genetic variant that reduces the risk of severe covid by 20%.
In their new study, the results of which published In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Seberg found that carriers of the “severe covid genes” nevertheless have the hidden advantage of having a 27% lower risk of contracting HIV compared to the population average.
How explained Zeberg, he and Paabo, studying ancient DNA, drew attention to the fact that since the last ice age, the frequency of occurrence of this genetic variant in the genomes of the inhabitants of Eurasia has unexpectedly increased. This led scientists to suggest that the possession of such genes is supported by natural selection, as it increases the chances of survival by providing protection once morest some other infection.
In the region of the third chromosome, where mutations increase the risk of severe covid, there are also genes encoding immune system receptors. One of these receptors, CCR5, is used by the human immunodeficiency virus to enter white blood cells. Seberg found that carriers of a genetic variant that increases the risk of severe covid have fewer CCR5 receptors than people without such mutations. Seberg suggested that those with “severe covid genes” have a reduced risk of contracting HIV.
Zeberg confirmed the correctness of this hypothesis by analyzing information from the three largest biological data banks (FinnGen, UK Biobank and Michigan Genomic Initiative).
However, since HIV only appeared in the 20th century, and the SARS-CoV-2 virus only in the 21st century, the presence of genetic protection once morest one infection and a genetic predisposition to another does not explain why this Neanderthal haplotype has spread so widely among humans. regarding 10 thousand years ago. Seberg did not rule out that such genes provided protection once morest some other infection that was spreading at the time.
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