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Watanabe M, Risi R, Tafuri MA, et al. Bone density and genomic analysis unfold cold adaptation mechanisms of ancient inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):23290doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02783-1.
Watanabe, M., Risi, R., Tafuri, M. A., Silvestri, V., D'Andrea, D., Raimondo, D., Rea, S., Di Vincenzo, F., Profico, A., Tuccinardi, D., Sciuto, R., Basciani, S., Mariani, S., Lubrano, C., Cinti, S., Ottini, L., Manzi, G., & Gnessi, L. (2021). Bone density and genomic analysis unfold cold adaptation mechanisms of ancient inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. Scientific reports, 11(1), 23290. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02783-1
Watanabe, Mikiko, et al. "Bone density and genomic analysis unfold cold adaptation mechanisms of ancient inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego." Scientific reports vol. 11,1 (2021): 23290. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02783-1
Watanabe M, Risi R, Tafuri MA, Silvestri V, D'Andrea D, Raimondo D, Rea S, Di Vincenzo F, Profico A, Tuccinardi D, Sciuto R, Basciani S, Mariani S, Lubrano C, Cinti S, Ottini L, Manzi G, Gnessi L. Bone density and genomic analysis unfold cold adaptation mechanisms of ancient inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 02;11(1):23290. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02783-1. PMID: 34857816; PMCID: PMC8639971.
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Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 02;11(1):23290. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02783-1.

Bone density and genomic analysis unfold cold adaptation mechanisms of ancient inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.

Scientific reports

Mikiko Watanabe, Renata Risi, Mary Anne Tafuri, Valentina Silvestri, Daniel D'Andrea, Domenico Raimondo, Sandra Rea, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Antonio Profico, Dario Tuccinardi, Rosa Sciuto, Sabrina Basciani, Stefania Mariani, Carla Lubrano, Saverio Cinti, Laura Ottini, Giorgio Manzi, Lucio Gnessi

Affiliations

  1. Section of Medical Pathophysiology, Food Science and Endocrinology, Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. [email protected].
  2. Section of Medical Pathophysiology, Food Science and Endocrinology, Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  3. Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  4. Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  5. MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
  6. Nuclear Medicine Unit, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy.
  7. Natural History Museum-University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
  8. Italian Institute of Human Paleontology (IsIPU), Anagni-Rome, Italy.
  9. Unit of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, 00128, Rome, Italy.
  10. Center of Obesity, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
  11. Section of Medical Pathophysiology, Food Science and Endocrinology, Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. [email protected].

PMID: 34857816 PMCID: PMC8639971 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02783-1

Abstract

The Fuegians, ancient inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, are an exemplary case of a cold-adapted population, since they were capable of living in extreme climatic conditions without any adequate clothing. However, the mechanisms of their extraordinary resistance to cold remain enigmatic. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays a crucial role in this kind of adaptation, besides having a protective role on the detrimental effect of low temperatures on bone structure. Skeletal remains of 12 adult Fuegians, collected in the second half of XIX century, were analyzed for bone mineral density and structure. We show that, despite the unfavorable climate, bone mineral density of Fuegians was close to that seen in modern humans living in temperate zones. Furthermore, we report significant differences between Fuegians and other cold-adapted populations in the frequency of the Homeobox protein Hox-C4 (HOXC4) rs190771160 variant, a gene involved in BAT differentiation, whose identified variant is predicted to upregulate HOXC4 expression. Greater BAT accumulation might therefore explain the Fuegians extreme cold-resistance and the protection against major cold-related damage. These results increase our understanding of how ecological challenges have been important drivers of human-environment interactions during Humankind history.

© 2021. The Author(s).

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