Your Teeth May Have Neanderthal Heritage, Study Reveals

Although many people complain about the photogenic layout of the teeth, most people do not think about the appearance of the teeth. Well, you should – because it can be partially confirmed by your Neanderthal ancestors.

An international team of researchers led by Kaustubh Adhikari from University College London (UCL) has discovered dental differences between ethnic groups, including features shared by a gene inherited from Neanderthals. Their research, printed on December 12 Modern Biologymay one day help in the diagnosis and treatment of dental diseases.

The researchers, including experts from Fudan University in China, used a 3D dental plaster scanner to measure the teeth of 882 volunteers from Europe, Native America, and Africa. They then compared these measurements to the volunteers’ genetic data and identified 18 regions of the genome that are involved in the size and shape of different teeth. In particular, 17 of these components were first identified as being associated with tooth development.

“Teeth can tell us a lot about human evolution, since well-preserved old teeth are very important especially for archaeologists, they shed light on important events such as when we moved to cooked food and the growth of human teeth began to shrink. But little is known about the genetics of the differences between modern humans in tooth size and shape, mainly due to difficulties in measuring teeth,” Adhikari said in UCL. words. “We have now identified many genes that affect the development of our teeth, some of which cause differences between races.”

Interestingly, scientists say that one of the known genes came from Neanderthals, with whom early humans interacted during prehistoric times. Genetic differences, which were found only in volunteers of European ancestry, were associated with reduced weight loss (measured forward and backward). Researchers have also noticed that people with this condition tend to have smaller teeth. In addition, the team found that the EDAR gene, previously linked to incisor shape in East Asia, also affects overall tooth width.

However, “our research did not show whether the genes that determine the shape of the teeth were selected by evolution because of the advantages of dental health, so it is possible that the genes were selected because of the influence they have in other areas, and the difference in the shape of the teeth leads to negative consequences, ” Andrés Ruiz-Linares of UCL and Aix-Marseille University, who co-led the study, explained. In short, researchers don’t know why genes are designed to affect tooth shape in this way.

“Some genes that contribute to tooth variation in healthy individuals may also cause changes in disease, such as growth failure or other dental diseases,” said Qing Li of Fudan University, who led the clinical team. learning. Genetic diversity is a genetic variation that increases a person’s chance of developing a particular disease or genetic condition. In other words, the genes that test the teeth can also detect health problems.

Therefore, “we believe that our findings may be useful in clinical practice, if people with dental problems can be genetically tested for diagnosis, or if other dental problems can be treated one day with gene therapy,” added Li.

It remains to be seen how this research will contribute to practical clinical applications. Meanwhile, Neanderthal teeth match many other things we may have inherited from our long-lost relatives, including. pain tolerance and shape of the nose.