No clothes and in the cold. Unusual DNA adaptations in different nations of the world (20 photos)

This is how a fisherman from Tierra del Fuego was captured by one of the Italian travelers in the 19th century. He was wearing a warm jacket because it was below zero outside.





This is how a fisherman from Tierra del Fuego was captured by one of the Italian travelers in the 19th century. He was wearing a warm jacket because it was below zero outside.

See underwater like a fish? No problem.

Eat fat by the spoonful and be healthier than a healthy lifestyle lover on buckwheat and chicken? Welcome to the real life of mutants! This is how different peoples around the world live. This is not fantasy, but the result of adaptations sewn into their DNA during evolution.

These are the Yagans, Tibetans, Maasai and other unique peoples who evolved in conditions that are extreme for humans. And their DNA does things that make athletes cry with envy during doping control.



How is this possible? What mutations make people superheroes and what (alas!) do they pay for it? Let's figure it out!

Tibetans: DNA of another human species that went extinct

A tourist from Europe is climbing the slope of the Himalayas. The altitude is just over four thousand meters. The air feels like someone squeezed it out by a third. Headache, fog before the eyes, heart pounding like a hare's.





And next to him is a man of about forty, a knitted hat, smiling. He walks briskly, carrying a gas cylinder and a pack of noodles. He is not carrying it for himself, but for the tourist, who is barely dragging himself. This is the man's fourth climb in a week.

At an altitude of 4,000–5,000 meters, the air contains almost half as much oxygen. For an ordinary person, this is guaranteed to cause dizziness, shortness of breath, and sometimes hallucinations.



The difference between them is not in training. The difference is that one of them has an ancient "cheat code" built into their DNA from nature. The EPAS1 gene, inherited from the long-extinct Denisovans, gives the inhabitants of Tibet the ability to breathe where others lack air.

The EPAS1 gene was inherited by the Tibetans from... the Denisovans. This species of people died out about 40 thousand years ago, turning out to be a dead-end branch of people. The EPAS1 gene in Tibetans is 40% identical to the Denisovan version, and is almost never found in other peoples. That is, at some point, the ancestors of the Tibetans... interbred with the Denisovans. And received a bonus for survival in the mountains.



This gene turns off the body's reaction to a lack of oxygen, preventing the blood from becoming thick like condensed milk. The result is no shortness of breath, no weakness, you just go up. And no matter how hard another person tries, he suffocates.

Tibetans have 12% lower hemoglobin levels than Europeans, but higher oxygen saturation.

They also have genetically larger lungs. Tibetans have lung capacity that is on average 15-20% larger than Europeans.

More nitric oxide (NO) in the blood. This substance dilates blood vessels and improves tissue oxygen supply. As a natural vasodilator.

Faster breathing. The respiratory rate is higher than that of lowland people. But not because they are suffocating, but because the brain is designed that way.

An interesting point: women with EPAS1 more often give birth to healthy children and suffer less from miscarriages. The higher the oxygen saturation of the mother, the greater the chance that the child will survive.

Tibetan women have a 40% lower infant mortality rate at an altitude of 4,000+ meters. But on the plain, on the contrary, the risks increase sharply. Therefore, they need mountain conditions for better survival.

Tibetans are also forced to eat right. The European-American diet kills them quickly. Their type of metabolism copes worse with rich food and problems with sugar and heart immediately arise.

Sherpas are a highland people from Tibet, they are able to calmly walk 20 kilometers a day in the mountains, with a baggage of 40+ kg and still smile in photos with tourists. Many of them do not use oxygen masks at all when climbing Everest.

Andean Indians: When evolution chose the wrong path

In Peru or Bolivia, the Andes begin as soon as the airport ends. And after a couple of hours, you, a person from the plains, are catching oxygen like a fish on a deserted beach.



But the local Quechua and Aymara (Andean tribes or, more simply, the Andes) walk, laugh, carry corn to the market, drag a baby on their back. And no one complains of dizziness. But the altitude is 3,500–4,200 meters. So much that most people experience a state of “I can’t breathe and I can’t think.” How is that possible?

The answer is again in DNA. Only this time, not the best one with a bunch of side effects.

Unlike the Tibetans, whose genome optimizes oxygen consumption, here nature went the other way: just make more red blood cells. Much more. So much so that the blood becomes viscous, like jam.

The hemoglobin level of local Indians is a third higher than that of Europeans. The body literally fills the blood with red blood cells in order to somehow "grab" the oxygen molecule.

Thick blood has side effects. It is difficult to pump through the vessels, increases blood pressure, burdens the heart and can lead to thrombosis.



By the age of 50, the Andes have an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks. The heart simply gets tired of pulling viscous blood.

Headaches, fatigue, and some asthma are common, although the lungs work normally.

The health of the locals is a tricky thing. Problems may not manifest themselves in youth, but hit the body in middle age, when the body's resources fall.

The local Indians have another curious adaptation. The AS3MT gene, which is associated with a reaction to... arsenic.

Water in some areas of the Andes contains increased amounts of this poison. All this is due to volcanic rocks.

The Andes have a mutation that allows them to convert arsenic into a less toxic form and safely remove it from the body. A kind of built-in antidote. Developed over 7,000 years.

Yaghans: naked and in ice

When the first European missionaries arrived in Tierra del Fuego in the 19th century, they were sure that they had found themselves in hell in reverse: ice, rain, wind all around - and on the shore by the fire sits a practically naked man, smearing himself with fat and happily waving his hand.



The temperature is around zero. The wind is icy, piercing to the kidneys.

How is he not shivering without clothes???

The missionaries wrote in their diary:

"We do not understand how they live. They are naked. They dive into icy water. They sleep in the open air. Their children play in the snow. And all this without a fire in the house. These people... do not look like people."

But they were people. Just with a genetic firmware tailored to harsh weather.

The Yagans are the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego. They lived on the edge of South America, where the forests ended and Antarctica began. Winters down to -30°C. Add to this high humidity, snow, and wind from the ocean. Even in summer, temperatures above +14°C are rare here.

The main secret of the local people is the HOXC4 gene, or more precisely its mutation rs190771160. It activates the production of brown adipose tissue - this is a kind of internal human heater. Unlike regular white fat, brown does not store, but burns calories and warms.

Most of us also have excess brown adipose tissue, but... it was there earlier, in infancy. It is for this reason that babies easily regulate heat, instantly lose weight and gain weight. This is how brown fat works.



The Yagans had a 160% (!!!) higher basal metabolic rate than Europeans. That is, they heated themselves from the inside like little biological stoves.

This is how they could sleep in the snow without freezing.

In addition to genes, of course, there were their own life hacks.

The locals smeared themselves with seal fat. It created a film that retained heat and protected the skin from frostbite and wind.

And there was always a fire burning in the canoe. It was lit on a special stone stand, right on the boat. It was both a heater and a navigation beacon at the same time.

They were constantly on the move: hunting, fishing, seasonal shelters made of skins and branches.

Alas, the local peoples died out. What the harsh nature could not do, the harsh Europeans did. First, more than half of the population died from European diseases - smallpox, measles and tuberculosis, to which there was no adaptation at all. And those who resisted the diseases - could not resist alcohol. Massive alcoholism took over the population that was not familiar with alcohol.

The remaining, already very small part, assimilated. They dissolved mainly among the Chilean population in local towns.

The last speaker of the Yaghan language, Cristina Calderon, died quite recently - in 2022. She lived to the venerable age of 93.



Inuit: Fat Diet Without Heart Attacks

The Inuit are a northern people who live in four countries - Canada, Greenland, the USA (Alaska).

Their people originally appeared in Siberia. Then they spread west through the Bering Strait (then there was a narrow land bridge) to Alaska. And over a thousand years, the Inuit populated the Arctic zone of Canada, Greenland and Alaska.



They have an amazing adaptation. They live without carbohydrates. At all!

No cereals, fruits, vegetables, sugars, bread. All that is the basis of our diet. Our energy for muscles and brain!

85% of the diet is fat. Yes, only seal fat, fish, whale fat, a little meat and a little more fat - for a snack. The rest is protein, because this structural element in the body cannot be replaced.



And now guess how many heart attacks these people have? Almost zero.

Welcome to the Arctic. They don't eat salads here, they eat Omega-3 by the bucketful. Low cholesterol. Their hearts work like a marathon runner's.

How do they manage to eat so much that any European would have died long ago? The answer is in their genes, of course.

The FADS1 and FADS2 genes regulate the conversion of short fatty acids (like alpha-linolenic acid) into long-chain fatty acids, which nourish the brain and heart.

The activity of these genes in Inuits is 40% higher than normal.

When there is a shortage of carbohydrates, the Inuit body synthesizes glucose from proteins and fats, mainly in the liver. This is their main source of glucose.

CPT1A (carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A) helps send fatty acids to the mitochondria, which are the power plants of our cells.



The TBC1D4 gene regulates glucose absorption by muscles. With a traditional diet, everything is fine. When switching to carbohydrates, the risk of diabetes increases by 10 (!!!) times.

The Moken People: Underwater Vision and 13 Minutes Without Air

Imagine a five-year-old girl diving without a mask into murky water off the coast of Burma. At a depth of three meters, she sees small mollusks, deftly grabs them with her fingers and surfaces. No panic, no fogged up glasses, no complaints about salt water in her eyes.



These are the Moken, one of the peoples that scientists have dubbed "sea nomads."

Their superpowers are the result of thousands of years of evolution near the coast.

Moken children can focus their vision underwater from an early age, especially in murky sea water. How?

Here's how:

Narrowing of the pupil - almost to a pinhead. This increases sharpness.

Strong contraction of the ciliary muscle - changes the shape of the lens.

Increased transparency of the cornea - lets in more light in water.

Another amazing sea people - the Bajau, live in Indonesia and the Philippines. If the Moken received the nickname of sea nomads, then the Bajau are called sea gypsies. Basically, for the same nomadic way of life.

They live on the water: houses on stilts, food from the bottom of the sea, or more precisely - the ocean.



Their genetic adaptation is a giant spleen. The PDE10A gene, associated with the thyroid gland, regulates the levels of hormones that affect the size of the spleen.

Their spleen is 50% larger than that of normal humans.



The spleen releases spare red blood cells into the blood. This increases oxygen saturation.

Allows you to hold your breath for 5-13 minutes when diving to a depth of 20-30 meters.

Maasai: milk and blood diet and health paradoxes



Maasai are cattle breeders of East Africa, who since ancient times drank fresh blood in a bloodsucking way (simply without killing the cow), washing it down with milk. They ate meat rarely, on holidays.

According to WHO standards, they should have died from bad cholesterol back in the Stone Age. But they live. And are healthy.

Ordinary adults stop supplying their intestines with lactase with age. This is normal for mammals. But not for the Maasai.



The gene continues to function in adulthood. 90% of the Maasai have it. Europeans also have it to some extent, but much more modestly. For example, only 20% of the Eastern Slavs have it.

The other side of evolution

It seems that evolution is a kind of genetic Santa Claus: some have lungs like fur, some have fat like biofuel, and some have a spleen-scuba tank.

But biology is not a generous magic wand. You pay for every ability.



For example, in Africa, millions of people have a mutation in the HBB gene, which causes their red blood cells to turn into "sickles." This prevents the malaria parasite from reproducing — and gives them a chance to survive in a zone of killer mosquitoes.

But if a person receives this mutation from both parents, he becomes a carrier of a deadly disease. Symptoms? Chronic pain, bone deformation, vascular crises.

Biologists joke: Nature does not play chess. It plays roulette, only with two out of six bullets.

The second unexpected and negative side of this mutation is cultural and historical. It was because of resistance to malaria that Africans fell into the blades of the slave trade machine. Because on the plantations other people, including local Indians, did not survive - they were killed by malaria. But Africans were resistant and could work a lot.

Another curious mutation that once saved Europeans from the plague. It was later discovered that carriers of the CCR5-delta32 gene are much more resistant to HIV.

It would seem like a gene jackpot. But in the 2020s, alarming data appeared: carriers of this mutation have a higher risk of contracting the flu. Why? Because the immune system becomes less responsive to other threats.

Paradox! It turns out that salvation from one virus can be an invitation to others.