-Anuska Sen, Team bioXone
Neanderthals also called Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis are an extinct group of early humans, which was existent almost 40,000 years back. These individuals lived in Eurasia until they became extinct and there are pieces of evidence that till date a certain percentage of Europeans and South Asians are genetically linked to these Neanderthals. Especially in countries such as Bangladesh more than half of the population has a genomic segment directly inherited from the Neanderthals.
A recent study conducted by researcher Zeberg and Pääbo reported that individuals who possessed this inherited genomic segment from the Neanderthals were more susceptible to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection and were also more prone to its critical ill-effects. This Neanderthal genomic sequence is approximately 50 kb in length and is present as a cluster of genes in chromosome no. 3 of humans.
These Neanderthal genes play a significant role in controlling the immune responses of the human body. There are two probable modes of action by which these genes supposedly regulate the body’s response towards the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Either they suppress the immune system and prevent it from fighting the virus or they produce intensified immune responses. As a validation of the second mechanism, several studies have proven that the body’s defense system attacking the host is responsible for producing the majority of the severe and critical effects of Covid-19.
Thus with a lot of evidence researcher Zeberg and Pääbo claimed that one of the considerable genetic causes of the complexities in Covid-19 is the presence of such Neanderthal genes. Furthermore, they also estimated that these genes could have been the cause for almost one hundred thousand deaths in the current Covid-19 pandemic. However, the study yet requires further validation and confirmation.
Also read: A Comparative Insight- MIS-C, Kawasaki Disease and Covid-19!
Source: Zeberg H., Pääbo S.; 2020; The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals. Nature.
Diiiiiiiiidi i read it and loved it too though most words were really strange ( like they came from another planet ) ,😅
Well written crisp and informative. It might be having its impact beyond COVID 19 if the correlation is robust enough.