Tibetans Have Extinct Mountain Man Gene
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 4th, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
Tibetans Have Extinct Mountain Man Gene
Scientists said on Wednesday many Tibetans possess a rare variant of a gene involved in carrying oxygen in the blood that they likely inherited from an enigmatic group of extinct humans who interbred with our species tens of thousands of years ago. The gene enables Tibetans to function well in low oxygen levels at elevations upwards of 15,000 feet like the vast high plateau of southwestern China. People without this variant would be apt to develop thick blood, leading to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, low-birth-weight babies and higher infant mortality.