ArticleBiology letters2020
Genetic evidence of widespread variation in ethanol metabolism among mammals: revisiting the 'myth' of natural intoxication.
Article in Biology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Alcohol Use and Types and Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.European neurology · 2025Pooled it
- The howler monkey genome provides new insights into the distinctive howling and folivorous adaptations of New World monkeys.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Recent advances in alcohol metabolism: from the gut to the brain.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Alcohol drinking is associated with greater calcium activity in mouse central amygdala dynorphin-expressing neurons.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2025Article
- Seed dispersal syndrome predicts ethanol concentration of fruits in a tropical dry forest.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Diet and the evolution ofRoyal Society open science · 2023Article
- A Comparative Genomic and Phylogenetic Investigation of the Xenobiotic Metabolism Enzymes of Cytochrome P450 in Elephants Shows Loss in CYP2E and CYP4A.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Hummingbird ingestion of low-concentration ethanol within artificial nectar.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Rapid physiological and transcriptomic changes associated with oxygen delivery in larval anemonefish suggest a role in adaptation to life on hypoxic coral reefs.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- FGF21 counteracts alcohol intoxication by activating the noradrenergic nervous system.Cell metabolism · 2023Article
- Regular consumption of lacto-fermented vegetables has greater effects on the gut metabolome compared with the microbiome.Gut microbiome (Cambridge, England) · 2023Article
- TheFEMS microbes · 2023Article
- The Promise of an Evolutionary Perspective of Alcohol Consumption.Neuroscience insights · 2023Review
- Dietary ethanol ingestion by free-ranging spider monkeysRoyal Society open science · 2022Article
- Alcohol-Related Liver Disease.Clinical liver disease · 2021Review
- Human Evolution and Dietary Ethanol.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Sweet tooth: Elephants detect fruit sugar levels based on scent alone.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans have a long evolutionary relationship with ethanol, pre-dating anthropogenic sources, and possess unusually efficient ethanol metabolism, through a mutation that evolved in our last common ancestor with African great apes. Increased exposure to dietary ethanol through fermenting fruits and nectars is hypothesized to have selected for this in our lineage. Yet, other mammals have frugivorous and nectarivorous diets, raising the possibility of natural ethanol exposure and adaptation in other taxa. We conduct a comparative genetic analysis of alcohol dehydrogenase class IV (ADH IV) across mammals to provide insight into their evolutionary history with ethanol. We find genetic variation and multiple pseudogenization events in ADH IV, indicating the ability to metabolize ethanol is variable. We suggest that ADH enzymes are evolutionarily plastic and show promise for revealing dietary adaptation. We further highlight the derived condition of humans and draw attention to problems with modelling the physiological responses of other mammals on them, a practice that has led to potentially erroneous conclusions about the likelihood of natural intoxication in wild animals. It is a fallacy to assume that other animals share our metabolic adaptations, rather than taking into consideration each species' unique physiology.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.