The study found that the gene is resistant to leprosy

50,000 years ago, the frequency of a gene mutation associated with the immune system in the Southeast Asian population increased significantly, and the mutation spread to Africa. In a recent paper published in
, a class of proteins encoded by a gene called HLA-B-46:01 binds to a class of molecules secreted by bacteria that cause leprosy, which in turn transmits this exogend molecule to the immune system to destroy infected cells.
" our study suggests that HLA-B-46:01 may protect the body from leprosy, a result that could explain why the gene spread rapidly 50,000 years ago, making it one of the most important immune genes in Southeast Asia. Lead author of the study, Hugo Hilton of Stanford University School of Medicine in the United States, said.
over the past 100,000 years, population expansion, cultural change and migration have led people to face pathogens that have never been seen before and have not produced adaptability. Under intense selection pressure, the HLA gene evolved the ability to resist a variety of rapidly evolving pathogens. But Peter Parham of Stanford University School of Medicine, the study's senior author, said no direct evidence of this natural process had been found.
HLA-B-46:01 currently exists in 110 million people in Southeast Asia. To determine why the gene expanded rapidly, Hilton and Parham and colleagues compared differences in HLA-B-46:01 and other allethromat expression proteins using high-resolution mass spectrometrometrometromety. It was found that the protein encoded by HLA-B-46:01 was able to bind to a series of small peptides, suggesting that the protein may have the ability to resist pathogenic microorganisms in a particular group.
addition, 21% of the proteins encoded by HLA-B-46:01 are strongly combined with the NK cell-like body KIR2DL3, enabling HLA molecules to trigger an effective immune response. Using a series of algorithms, the researchers found that proteins encoded by HLA-B-46:01 were able to bind to Leprosy, but their ability to bind to salmonella, HIV-1, and SARS viruses decreased.
authors say the results are also consistent with epidemiological findings that people with this genotype are less resistant to diseases such as malaria, HIV and SARS