Université de Fribourg

Low prevalence of lactase persistence in bronze age europe indicates ongoing strong selection over the last 3,000 years

Burger, Joachim ; Link, Vivian ; Blöcher, Jens ; Schulz, Anna ; Sell, Christian ; Pochon, Zoé ; Diekmann, Yoan ; Žegarac, Aleksandra ; Hofmanová, Zuzana ; Winkelbach, Laura ; Reyna-Blanco, Carlos S. ; Bieker, Vanessa ; Orschiedt, Jörg ; Brinker, Ute ; Scheu, Amelie ; Leuenberger, Christoph ; Bertino, Thomas S. ; Bollongino, Ruth ; Lidke, Gundula ; Stefanović, Sofija ; Jantzen, Detlef ; Kaiser, Elke ; Terberger, Thomas ; Thomas, Mark G. ; Veeramah, Krishna R. ; Wegmann, Daniel

In: Current Biology, 2020, p. -

Lactase persistence (LP), the continued expression of lactase into adulthood, is the most strongly selected single gene trait over the last 10,000 years in multiple human populations. It has been posited that the primary allele causing LP among Eurasians, rs4988235-A [1], only rose to appreciable frequencies during the Bronze and Iron Ages [2, 3], long after humans started consuming milk from...