The Taiwanese population consists of indigenous and Han people. The Han people, who began immigrating to Taiwan from China more than 400 years ago, form the majority of Taiwan’s population today. Few studies have investigated the genetic mutations in the ancestors of the Han Taiwanese over their thousands of years of evolution that have protected the Han Taiwanese from natural elimination. The NYCU Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Genome Sciences examined the whole genome genotypes of 14,401 Han Taiwanese and the whole genome sequences of 772 of these people. They identified 5 key genes that have survived from ancient times, namely CTNNA2, LRP1B, CSNK1G3, ASTN2, and NEO1. The mutation of these genes enabled the Han Taiwanese to overcome natural elimination, providing them with a competitive edge in natural evolution.
Full report: https://web.ym.edu.tw/files/14-1133-46176,r1-1.php
[Assistant Professor Wen-Ya Ko (right) and research team members of the Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Genome Sciences]
