I. Introduction
II. Tibetan High Life
III. EPAS1
IV. Tibetan Genetic Heritage
V. Gene Therapy
VI. Conclusion
Tibet is a reasonable sized country that touches China’s border and it is commonly known as “the roof of the world,” due to its high elevation. People that live in Tibet, called Tibetans, survive living in the high elevation with help from a gene called EPAS1. The gene helps the Tibetans survive oxygen deprivation in the high altitudes. Scientists had studied this gene for years in order to discover its origin, but they didn’t succeed until 2010. They found that the EPAS1 gene had come from Denisovan DNA. This EPAS1 gene has helped the Tibetans live in high elevations ever since they inherited the gene from the Denisovan people and
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For years, scientists have been trying to find where the EPAS1 gene originated. They compared stretches of DNA from 40 Tibetan and 40 Han Chines individuals, but there were only two matches. Then, in 2010, scientist announced that a 41,000 year-old finger bone, found in Siberia, belonged to a person who was a part of an unknown group of an extinct society of people. The civilization was named Denisovan, after the name of the cave in which the fossil was found. The scientists who were studying the EPAS1 decided to compare the DNA of the finger bone to the DNA of the Tibetans and they matched. This comparison is the closest scientists have gotten to finding the origin of the EPAS1 gene. Therefore, the chances of the Tibetans inheriting the EPAS1 gene from the Denisovans are very high. In the end, the Tibetans must have inherited the EPAS1 gene from the Denisovans and this heritage has helped the Tibetans live in high elevations for thousands of years.
In the same way that the EPAS1 gene has helped the Tibetans live in high elevations, we may be able to use it to help people that have a hard time breathing. Scientists may be able to extract the gene and place in in the DNA of a person that has difficulty breathing. The person receiving this gene therapy will be able to breath without needing so much
Paabo’s team discovered an mtDNA sequence from a finger bone they found from around 40,000 years ago, as carbon dating is one of the most commonly used methods of determining a fossil’s age. (Hammer, 70). Also, Neanderthal mtDNA is differs severely from modern human mtDNA. For example, Microcephalin is a gene for brain size during the development of the organism.
One remarkable Alu element located at the PV92 locus on chromosome 16 was found to be specific to the Homo sapiens species. The fact that it is found exclusively in the human population provides significant support to the theory that the PV92 element established itself into the genome sometime after the human-primate split in the ancestral tree approximately 5-7 million years ago (Batzer, et al., 1994). The PV92 insert, along with all other elements belonging to the Alu family, do not code for outgoing products, instead they are considered to be a genetically silent insertions. Although different genotypes in individuals can be observed there is no effect on a person’s phenotype.
Wilford, J. (2004).Another Branch of Early Human Ancestors Is Reported by Scientists. [Online], March. Available at: http://gateway.proquest.com [Accessed 28 March 2004].
Mitochondrial DNA has a lot of characteristics and features which makes its use very essential in determining the spread of humans throughout the world. Human mitochondrial DNA is solely inherited from mothers. A human’s mitochondrial DNA is the same as his mother’s mitochondrial DNA, which is the same as her mother’s mitochondrial DNA. Researchers can estimate a probability distribution of ancestors’ genes and migration paths through time if they are given a set of mitochondrial gene sequences. It is assumed that all mitochondrial DNA types in the human gene pool can ultimately be traced back to a common matrilineal ancestor that lived approximately 200,000 years ago in Africa.(Oven et al, 386) All human mitochondrial DNA can be traced back to a single mitochondrial DNA known as “mitochondrial Eve”, who lived in Africa a long time ago. Mutations are m...
Australopithecus afarensis who existed 3.5 million years ago and a 4.4 million year old skeleton of an Ardipithecus ramidus are the closest science has come to discovering the human lineage. Shattered Ancestry an article written by Katherine Harmon discusses the remains of two hominids found within Ethiopia. These skeletal remains have created a huge controversy within the topic of evolution questioning many assumptions that have been made referencing the human lineage. The skeleton of the Australopithecus afarensis was named Lucy and was discovered in 1974. The evidence of her walking upright on her two feet essentially guaranteed her a spot in the human lineage line. Lucy was a chimplike ape that was said to walk upright making scientists believe the human ancestry was simple. The complete skeleton found in Ethiopia of an Ardipithecus ramidus named Ardi completely changed all assumptions made from scientists about the complexity of the human lineage. These remains have encouraged researches that the human line is not the only lineage to have evolved but the chimpanzee line has undergone drastic changes as well. There are many traits that researchers have always directly linked to the human lineage however since these discoveries occurred researchers are reconsidering. The recent discoveries that have shattered what has always suggested what linked a species to the human lineage have changed the certainty of whether it is possible to confidently identify the human’s last common ancestor. Majority of scientist had forgotten that there would have been many hominid species living together at one time. New theories have been suggested since scientists revealed that the foot of a hominid found called the Burtele site was found ju...
The simple act of breathing is often taken for granted. As an automated function sustaining life, most of us do not have to think about the act of breathing. However, for many others, respiratory diseases make this simple act thought consuming. Emphysema is one such disease taking away the ease, but instead inflicting labored breathing and a hope for a cure.
1 Geoff Childs Tibetan Diary From Birth to Death and Beyond in a Himalayan Valley of Nepal (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) 41.
As the earliest extinct human relatives to become known to science, the Homo neanderthalensis have snatched a relatively iconic influence in human evolutionary investigations. A significance that has been enormously reinforced by the substantial behavioral and fossil record that has expanded since the original Feldhofer Cave skullcap and partial skeleton were unexpectedly uncovered in 1856, by miners working in Germany’s Neander Valley (Tattersall & Jeffrey 1999: 7117-7119). ‘The Neanderthals’ is the informal classification of a particular group of large-brained hominids whom inhabited Europe and Western Asia between 130,000 to around 35,000 years ago. Complementary human populations lived at the same time in Africa and Asia. The Neanderthals were a highly successful race for a substantial period of time, but this situation chang...
The Chinese have repeatedly tortured, imprisoned, and murdered Tibetans all for what they claim is national unity. While the oppression of the Tibetan people began in the 1950’s with the invasion of China, it continues just as strongly today. From religious oppression and unfair trials to the torture of nuns and monks, the Chinese abuse even the most reverent aspects of Tibetan culture. Political prisoners, whether they are monks, nuns or lay people, are tortured with utter disregard for human rights. Chinese laws have also been established to eradicate the Tibetan people entirely. Women often must endure forced abortions and sterilization due to Chinese birth policies. Through all of these crimes against humanity, China repeatedly commits acts of genocide as established by the United Nations.
Heller, A. (2007). Discoveries in western Tibet and the western Himalayas essays on history, literature, archaeology and art : PIATS 2003, Tibetan studies, proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Leiden: Brill.
Sterling, Robin L. "Genetic Research among the Havasupai—A Cautionary Tale." Virtual Mentor. American Medical Association, Feb. 2011. Web. 08 Jan. 2014. .
Humanity became fascinated with the idea of evolution with the work of Charles Darwin and the Scientific Revolution. People began hunting for fossils that would prove that man had an ape derived ancestry (Weiner, 1955). After various years of searching, a piece of physical evidence was found in England that was said to confirm the theory of evolution (Weiner, 1955).This confirmation came from Charles Dawson’s discoveries from 1908, that were announced publicly in 1912 (Thackeray, 2011). Dawson was believed to have found the fossil remains of the “missing link” between ape and human evolution, the reconstructed skull of Piltdown man (Augustine, 2006). The material was found in stratigraphical evidence and animal remains that were, at the time, adequate enough to confirm the antiquity of the remains (Weiner, 1955). In 1915, another specimen, Piltdown man II, was found further proving this theory (Augustine, 2006). However, this was merely a hoax proven by fluorine relative dating in 1953; the artifacts and bone fragments discovered turned out to be altered to fit the proposed scenario (Augustine, 2006). The skull found was actually composed of a human braincase that was younger than the complimentary orangutan lower jaw (Falk, 2011). Both sections of the skull had been stained to appear to be from the same person of the same age (Falk, 2011).The perpetrator of this act was never caught and there are many theories proposed for the motive of this hoax (Augustine, 2006). Many people have been taken into consideration for this crime, such as Chardin, Woodward, Hinton, and Dawson (Augustine, 2006). Nevertheless, the evidence that proves that Dawson is guilty of this crime against anthropology is quite substantial compared to the evidence...
The human archaeological record is a long and undefined story that may be the most complex question researched today. One of the big questions in human history is the disappearance of the Neanderthal people from the archaeological record around 30,000 BP. While for thousands of years Neanderthals and Anatomically modern humans crossed paths and perhaps lived in close relations, we have yet to really understand the degree to which they lived together. My hypothesis is that these two hominids, Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans, interbred exchanging genes after Modern Humans dispersed from Africa and creating like cultures and material remains. The differences between Neanderthal and Modern humans are not only physical but also genetically evolved and this research will determine an estimated amount of admixture between the two groups.
Logan, Pamela. Witness to a Tibetan Sky Burial. 26 September 1997. Web. 11 February 2014.
Orrorin tugenensis is known to be the second oldest hominin ancestor annd possibly related to modern humans. It was also known as the “Millennium Man” because the Orrorin tugenensis was fou...