ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2011
Evolution of lactase persistence: an example of human niche construction.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 497 citations in OpenAlex.
- Strategies to work with HLA data in human populations for histocompatibility, clinical transplantation, epidemiology and population genetics: HLA-NET methodological recommendations.International journal of immunogenetics · 2012Guideline
- Development of a novel SNP assay to detect lactase persistence associated genetic variants.Molecular biology reports · 2021Trial
- Limited Public Health Utility of LCT Genotyping for Lactose Intolerance Screening in Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Türkiye.Journal of clinical practice and research · 2026Article
- Unlocking Ethiopia's genomic landscape and its global significance: a call for inclusive genomics research.Human genomics · 2026Review
- Meta-analysis of lactase phenotypes on obesity, metabolic syndrome and milk consumption.BMJ nutrition, prevention & health · 2026Article
- Article
- Revisiting the Evolution of Lactase Persistence: Insights from South Asian Genomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Not by Selection Alone: Expanding the Scope of Gene-Culture Coevolution.Evolutionary anthropology · 2025Review
- Saturated fat in an evolutionary context.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Review
- Genes, culture, and scientific racism.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Leveraging ancient DNA to uncover signals of natural selection in Europe lost due to admixture or drift.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Constructing stability: optimal learning in noisy ecological niches.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Dynamic evolution of the mTHF gene family associated with primary metabolism across life.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- Prebiotic Strategies to Manage Lactose Intolerance Symptoms.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Brain Evolution in the Times of the Pandemic and Multimedia.European neurology · 2024Review
- Social-ecological niche construction for sustainability: understanding destructive processes and exploring regenerative potentials.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Nutrigenomics and redox regulation: Concepts relating to the Special Issue on nutrigenomics.Redox biology · 2023Review
- Neuromodulators as Interdomain Signaling Molecules Capable of Occupying Effector Binding Sites in Bacterial Transcription Factors.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Phylogenetic modeling of enhancer shifts in African mole-rats reveals regulatory changes associated with tissue-specific traits.Genome research · 2023Article
- Understanding natural selection in Holocene Europe using multi-locus genotype identity scans.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Niche construction is the process by which organisms construct important components of their local environment in ways that introduce novel selection pressures. Lactase persistence is one of the clearest examples of niche construction in humans. Lactase is the enzyme responsible for the digestion of the milk sugar lactose and its production decreases after the weaning phase in most mammals, including most humans. Some humans, however, continue to produce lactase throughout adulthood, a trait known as lactase persistence. In European populations, a single mutation (-13910*T) explains the distribution of the phenotype, whereas several mutations are associated with it in Africa and the Middle East. Current estimates for the age of lactase persistence-associated alleles bracket those for the origins of animal domestication and the culturally transmitted practice of dairying. We report new data on the distribution of -13910*T and summarize genetic studies on the diversity of lactase persistence worldwide. We review relevant archaeological data and describe three simulation studies that have shed light on the evolution of this trait in Europe. These studies illustrate how genetic and archaeological information can be integrated to bring new insights to the origins and spread of lactase persistence. Finally, we discuss possible improvements to these models.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.