A condition known as Dupuytren's disease has been discovered to be partly of Neanderthal origin.
Dupuytren's disease is a disorder affecting the connective tissue of the hand. People with the condition most commonly see their ring and middle fingers become bent permanently in a flexed position. Scientists have previously identified several risk factors for the condition, including age, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and genetic predisposition.
Researchers led by Dr Hugo Zeberg from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and Professor Svante Pääbo from Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, investigated its genetic origins.
They found 61 genome-wide significant variants associated with the disease, and that three of these variants were of Neanderthal origin, including the second- and third-most strongly associated ones.
Their research has been published in Molecular Biology and Evolution and reported in Phys Org