Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum Why has Cystic Fibrosis Gene Persisted?

Researchers have tested mice to find out why the CF gene has persisted in the human population. The reason may surprise you.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/07/us/clue-to-why-cystic-fibrosis-has-survived.html

I suppose we now need to be sure that the relevant reactions are the same in mice and humans.

Never forget that if penicillin had originally been tested on cavies, it would probably have been labelled “toxic”.

I certainly wouldn't try giving cholera to a group of people to test the theory. It might be illuminating but certainly not ethical.

Well, we will have to do it the other way. Monitor areas where they are having cholera outbreaks and take DNA samples from every body around. Then it becomes a question of statistics.

Of course the idea that a gene for a bad thing is actually a good thing is nothing new. Sickle Cell Anemia is a well known example. If you receive the Sickle Cell gene from one parent it helps immunize you against malaria. If you get 2, one from each parent, you get Sickle Cell Anemia. Overall it helps more people than it hurts, so it stays in the gene pool.

Bill Gill

Wouldn't it be interesting if the gay gene(s) conferred some sort of survival advantage to the bearer of a single allele? It is a genetic condition that has certainly persisted in the human gene pool for a good long time, while seeming to confer no survivability to its bearers.

I am sure that I had heard that historically CF protected against TB in the chronically overcrowded slums of early Europe. Something to do with mucous and lungs.

Obviously even if I am wrong (which is likely, it may have been just unproven speculation) it is interesting that such a dire genetic condition persisted because it helped against another disease, also in sickle-cell.

I wonder how many more we will discover?