The evolution of evolutionary molecular medicine

Ganten, Detlev; Nesse, Randolph M.

doi:10.1007/s00109-012-0903-2

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Yet the majority of people in the West resort to convenience food and prefer to avail of the supply of readily available fast food. With this type of diet, the name says it all, and consumers must naturally pay the price [209]. Nevertheless, we happily accept the detrimental effects on our health from the consumption of cheap, highly processed food if it means that we will have more money for leisure pursuits.…”

Section: Nutrition As a Social Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition and Health in Human Evolution–Past to Present

2022

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Anyone who wants to understand the biological nature of humans and their special characteristics must look far back into evolutionary history. Today’s way of life is drastically different from that of our ancestors. For almost 99% of human history, gathering and hunting have been the basis of nutrition. It was not until about 12,000 years ago that humans began domesticating plants and animals. Bioarchaeologically and biochemically, this can be traced back to our earliest roots. Modern living conditions and the quality of human life are better today than ever before. However, neither physically nor psychosocially have we made this adjustment and we are paying a high health price for it. The studies presented allow us to reconstruct food supply, lifestyles, and dietary habits: from the earliest primates, through hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic, farming communities since the beginning of the Anthropocene, to the Industrial Age and the present. The comprehensive data pool allows extraction of all findings of medical relevance. Our recent lifestyle and diet are essentially determined by our culture rather than by our millions of years of ancestry. Culture is permanently in a dominant position compared to natural evolution. Thereby culture does not form a contrast to nature but represents its result. There is no doubt that we are biologically adapted to culture, but it is questionable how much culture humans can cope with.

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Section: Nutrition As a Social Phenomenonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition and Health in Human Evolution–Past to Present

2022

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“…The modern version of the evolutionary medicine project, started by Williams & Nesse [1,2], has been surveyed in recent books by Trevathan et al [3], Stearns & Koella [4] and Gluckman et al [5]; in several review papers [6][7][8][9][10]; and in special issues of Evolutionary Applications [11], the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science [9] and The Journal of Molecular Medicine [12]. If this paper has any added value, it comes from the perspectives gained from having taught several courses and having addressed a wide range of audiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary medicine: its scope, interest and potential

2012

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This review is aimed at readers seeking an introductory overview, teaching courses and interested in visionary ideas. It first describes the range of topics covered by evolutionary medicine, which include human genetic variation, mismatches to modernity, reproductive medicine, degenerative disease, hostpathogen interactions and insights from comparisons with other species. It then discusses priorities for translational research, basic research and health management. Its conclusions are that evolutionary thinking should not displace other approaches to medical science, such as molecular medicine and cell and developmental biology, but that evolutionary insights can combine with and complement established approaches to reduce suffering and save lives. Because we are on the cusp of so much new research and innovative insights, it is hard to estimate how much impact evolutionary thinking will have on medicine, but it is already clear that its potential is enormous.

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“…Uncovering the molecular and evolutionary bases of ageing in the tree of life is important to increase our understanding of the natural mechanisms of disease resistance ( Galis and Metz 2003 ; Caulin and Maley 2011 ; Ganten and Nesse 2012 ; Nesse et al 2012 ; Thomas et al 2013 ; Petralia et al 2014 ; Abegglen et al 2015 ; Harris et al 2017 ; Ciccarelli and DeGregori 2020 ). The evolution of lifespan in animals has been shaped by selective pressures arising from different environments, ecological niches, habitats, and diets ( Healy et al 2014 ; Tollis et al 2017 ; Kacprzyk et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Selection and Enhancer Evolution Shaped Lifespan and Body Mass in Great Apes

Tejada‐Martinez

Avelar

Lopes

et al. 2021

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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Within primates, the great apes are outliers both in terms of body size and lifespan, since they include the largest and longest-lived species in the order. Yet, the molecular bases underlying such features are poorly understood. Here, we leveraged an integrated approach to investigate multiple sources of molecular variation across primates, focusing on over ten thousand genes, including ∼1,500 previously associated with lifespan, and additional ∼9,000 for which an association with longevity has never been suggested. We analyzed dN/dS rates, positive selection, gene expression (RNA-seq) and gene regulation (ChIP-seq). By analyzing the correlation between dN/dS, maximum lifespan and body mass we identified 276 genes whose rate of evolution positively correlates with maximum lifespan in primates. Further, we identified 5 genes, important for tumor suppression, adaptive immunity, metastasis and inflammation, under positive selection exclusively in the great ape lineage. RNA-seq data, generated from the liver of six species representing all the primate lineages, revealed that 8% of ∼1,500 genes previously associated with longevity are differentially expressed in apes relative to other primates. Importantly, by integrating RNA-seq with ChIP-seq for H3K27ac (which marks active enhancers), we show that the differentially expressed longevity genes are significantly more likely than expected to be located near a novel “ape-specific” enhancer. Moreover, these particular ape-specific enhancers are enriched for young transposable elements, and specifically SINE-Vntr-Alus (SVAs). In summary, we demonstrate that multiple evolutionary forces have contributed to the evolution of lifespan and body size in primates.

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The evolution of evolutionary molecular medicine

Cited by 10 publications

References 14 publications

Nutrition and Health in Human Evolution–Past to Present

Nutrition and Health in Human Evolution–Past to Present

Evolutionary medicine: its scope, interest and potential

Positive Selection and Enhancer Evolution Shaped Lifespan and Body Mass in Great Apes

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