Searcher Role- Traits by Region

Chapter 5  extensively detailed the difference in lactase production and the resulting ability to digest milk and dairy products from animals. Although widely disputed the cause of varying amounts of lactase persistence and impersistence among different regions of the world, the mutation and ability to produce lactase past the weaning stage of life in humans descended from a select few regions of the Earth, while other regions remained incapable to digest lactose or only able to digest it with difficulties in health. This piqued my interest in other regions that see the population of humans have consistent variation compared to other regions. The first example of DNA isolation and variation found the lipoprotein lipase, which encodes the protein enzyme LPL, which is key in the risk of a human in the risk of cardiovascular disease. The study found a mutation in one population surveyed from one of 3 areas, which helped to reveal the mutation history and descendant of the populations (http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v19/n3/abs/ng0798_233.html). The further I looked into genetic variation causes, the term linkage disequilibrium was mentioned frequently as a key factor in the descendant traits. This term specifies that the proximity and closeness of a locus or loci gene between neighboring allele could result in continued inherited traits from descendants of a region. With this knowledge, disease transmission and vulnerability can more accurately be traced back to beginnings of regions or populations. http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v3/n4/abs/nrg777.html