Dataset Information

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe.

ABSTRACT: In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years¹. Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions^2,3. Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,000 years using around 7,000 pottery fat residues from more than 550 archaeological sites. European milk use was widespread from the Neolithic period onwards but varied spatially and temporally in intensity. Notably, LP selection varying with levels of prehistoric milk exploitation is no better at explaining LP allele frequency trajectories than uniform selection since the Neolithic period. In the UK Biobank^4,5 cohort of 500,000 contemporary Europeans, LP genotype was only weakly associated with milk consumption and did not show consistent associations with improved fitness or health indicators. This suggests that other reasons for the beneficial effects of LP should be considered for its rapid frequency increase. We propose that lactase non-persistent individuals consumed milk when it became available but, under conditions of famine and/or increased pathogen exposure, this was disadvantageous, driving LP selection in prehistoric Europe. Comparison of model likelihoods indicates that population fluctuations, settlement density and wild animal exploitation-proxies for these drivers-provide better explanations of LP selection than the extent of milk exploitation. These findings offer new perspectives on prehistoric milk exploitation and LP evolution.

SUBMITTER: Evershed RP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7615474 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe.

Evershed Richard P RP Davey Smith George G Roffet-Salque Mélanie M Timpson Adrian A Diekmann Yoan Y Lyon Matthew S MS Cramp Lucy J E LJE Casanova Emmanuelle E Smyth Jessica J Whelton Helen L HL Dunne Julie J Brychova Veronika V Šoberl Lucija L Gerbault Pascale P Gillis Rosalind E RE Heyd Volker V Johnson Emily E Kendall Iain I Manning Katie K Marciniak Arkadiusz A Outram Alan K AK Vigne Jean-Denis JD Shennan Stephen S Bevan Andrew A Colledge Sue S Allason-Jones Lyndsay L Amkreutz Luc L Anders Alexandra A Arbogast Rose-Marie RM Bălăşescu Adrian A Bánffy Eszter E Barclay Alistair A Behrens Anja A Bogucki Peter P Carrancho Alonso Ángel Á Carretero José Miguel JM Cavanagh Nigel N Claßen Erich E Collado Giraldo Hipolito H Conrad Matthias M Csengeri Piroska P Czerniak Lech L Dębiec Maciej M Denaire Anthony A Domboróczki László L Donald Christina C Ebert Julia J Evans Christopher C Francés-Negro Marta M Gronenborn Detlef D Haack Fabian F Halle Matthias M Hamon Caroline C Hülshoff Roman R Ilett Michael M Iriarte Eneko E Jakucs János J Jeunesse Christian C Johnson Melanie M Jones Andy M AM Karul Necmi N Kiosak Dmytro D Kotova Nadezhda N Krause Rüdiger R Kretschmer Saskia S Krüger Marta M Lefranc Philippe P Lelong Olivia O Lenneis Eva E Logvin Andrey A Lüth Friedrich F Marton Tibor T Marley Jane J Mortimer Richard R Oosterbeek Luiz L Oross Krisztián K Pavúk Juraj J Pechtl Joachim J Pétrequin Pierre P Pollard Joshua J Pollard Richard R Powlesland Dominic D Pyzel Joanna J Raczky Pál P Richardson Andrew A Rowe Peter P Rowland Stephen S Rowlandson Ian I Saile Thomas T Sebők Katalin K Schier Wolfram W Schmalfuß Germo G Sharapova Svetlana S Sharp Helen H Sheridan Alison A Shevnina Irina I Sobkowiak-Tabaka Iwona I Stadler Peter P Stäuble Harald H Stobbe Astrid A Stojanovski Darko D Tasić Nenad N van Wijk Ivo I Vostrovská Ivana I Vuković Jasna J Wolfram Sabine S Zeeb-Lanz Andrea A Thomas Mark G MG

Nature 20220727 7922

In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years<sup>1</sup>. Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions<sup>2,3</sup>. Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,0 ...[more]

PMID: 35896751

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Project description:Ruminant milk and dairy products are important food resources in many European, African, and Middle Eastern societies. These regions are also associated with derived genetic variants for lactase persistence. In mammals, lactase, the enzyme that hydrolyzes the milk sugar lactose, is normally down-regulated after weaning, but at least five human populations around the world have independently evolved mutations regulating the expression of the lactase-phlorizin-hydrolase gene. These mutations result in a dominant lactase persistence phenotype and continued lactase tolerance in adulthood. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at C/T-13910 is responsible for most lactase persistence in European populations, but when and where the T-13910 polymorphism originated and the evolutionary processes by which it rose to high frequency in Europe have been the subject of strong debate. A history of dairying is presumed to be a prerequisite, but archaeological evidence is lacking. In this study, DNA was extracted from the dentine of 36 individuals excavated at a medieval cemetery in Dalheim, Germany. Eighteen individuals were successfully genotyped for the C/T-13910 SNP by molecular cloning and sequencing, of which 13 (72%) exhibited a European lactase persistence genotype: 44% CT, 28% TT. Previous ancient DNA-based studies found that lactase persistence genotypes fall below detection levels in most regions of Neolithic Europe. Our research shows that by AD 1200, lactase persistence frequency had risen to over 70% in this community in western Central Europe. Given that lactase persistence genotype frequency in present-day Germany and Austria is estimated at 71-80%, our results suggest that genetic lactase persistence likely reached modern levels before the historic population declines associated with the Black Death, thus excluding plague-associated evolutionary forces in the rise of lactase persistence in this region. This new evidence sheds light on the dynamic evolutionary history of the European lactase persistence trait and its global cultural implications.

Dataset Information

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe.

Publications

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe.

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