Human adaptation to arsenic in Andean populations of the Atacama Desert

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8316095
AutoresMario Apata (0000-0002-6832-5245, Programa de Genética Humana ICBM, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile Santiago Chile), Bernado Arriaza (Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá Arica Chile), Elena Llop (0009-0000-0675-2076, Programa de Genética Humana ICBM, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile Santiago Chile), M Moraga (0000-0002-8217-9950, Programa de Genética Humana ICBM, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile Santiago Chile, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen163
Número1
Páginas192-199
Fecha de publicación2017-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.23193
PMID28206677
OpenAlexW2587965253
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas22
Referencias citadas31

OBJECTIVES: Quebrada Camarones, in the Atacama Desert, has the highest arsenic levels in the Americas (>1,000 μg/L). However, the Camarones people have subsisted in this adverse environment during the last 7,000 years and have not presented any epidemiological emergencies. Therefore, to solve this conundrum we compared the frequencies of four protective genetic variants of the AS3MT gene associated with efficient arsenic metabolization, between the living populations of Camarones and two other populations historically exposed to lower levels of arsenic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Chilean selected population samples come from Quebrada Camarones (n = 50) and the Azapa Valley (n = 47) in the north and San Juan de la Costa (n = 45) in southern Chile. The genotyping was conducted using PCR-RFLP. We compared the genotypic and allelic frequencies, and estimated the haplotype frequencies in the AS3MT gene. RESULTS: We found higher frequencies of the protective variants in those people from Camarones than in the other two populations. The haplotype estimation showed that the combination of protective variants of CTTA is very frequent in Camarones (68%) and Azapa (48%), but extremely low in San Juan de la Costa (8%). Also, the C variant associated with toxicity risks in the SNP Met287Thr had a lower frequency in Camarones (1%) and is higher in the other populations. DISCUSSION: The higher frequency of protective variants in both northern Chilean populations indicates a long exposure to naturally arsenic-contaminated water sources. Our data suggest that a high arsenic metabolization capacity has been selected as an adaptive mechanism in these populations in order to survive in an arsenic-laden environment

Arsenic · Biology · Gene · Genotype · Genotyping · Haplotype · Population · Sociology · Arsenic contamination and mitigation · Chemistry · Demography · Genetics · Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity · Retinoids in leukemia and cellular processes