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Did We Evolve to Get Type 2 Diabetes?
Evolution works in strange ways. What serves as an advantage at one point in time can sometimes prove a problem later, when the world has changed. It looks like that might be the case with type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from San Diego, California.
The researchers say that two or three million years ago, a gene called CMAH mutated in humans. The mutation made humans unable to produce one type of sialic acid molecule. All mammals except humans produce two types: N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc). The mutation in CMAH inactivated an enzyme that creates Neu5Gc by adding a single oxygen atom to Neu5Ac. As a result, humans, alone among mammals, do not have Neu5Gc.
The research group, whose work was published in The FASEB Journal, created mice with the human-like mutation in the CMAH gene, so that the mice could not create Neu5Gc. As a control, they had another group of mice with normal, functioning CMAH genes. Both groups of mice were fed a high-fat diet, and both became obese and developed insulin resistance. Only the mice with the CMAH gene mutation, however, experienced pancreatic beta cell failure, leading to type 2 diabetes.
What evolutionary advantage the mutation in the CMAH gene might have had millions of years ago is still a mystery. But it apparently has a distinct disadvantage now, in our environment of plenty.
Source: EurekAlert
Categories: Diabetes, Diabetes, Health Care, Insulin, Insulin Resistance, Obese, Research, Type 2 Issues
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Mar 21, 2011
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Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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