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Health
See other Health Articles

Title: Desert people evolve to drink water poisoned with deadly arsenic Arsenic
Source: [None]
URL Source: https://www.newscientist.com/articl ... -poisoned-with-deadly-arsenic/
Published: Feb 25, 2017
Author: Ian Graber-Stiehl
Post Date: 2017-02-25 07:05:07 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 317
Comments: 18

PEOPLE in a south American desert have evolved to detoxify potentially deadly arsenic that laces their water supply.

For settlers in the Quebrada Camarones region of Chile’s Atacama desert some 7000 years ago, water posed more than a bit of a problem. They were living in the world’s driest non-polar desert, and several of their most readily available water sources, such as rivers and wells, had high levels of arsenic, which can cause a variety of health problems.

The arsenic contamination here exceeds 1 microgram per litre: the highest levels in the Americas, and over 100 times the World Health Organization’s safe limits. There are virtually no alternative water sources, and yet, somehow, people have survived in the area. Could it be that arsenic’s negative effects on human health, such as inducing miscarriages, acted as a natural selection pressure that made this population evolve adaptations to it? A new study suggests this is indeed so.

The body uses an enzyme called AS3MT to incorporate arsenic in two compounds, monomethylarsonic (MMA) acid and dimethylarsinic (DMA) acid. People who metabolise arsenic more efficiently convert more of it into the less toxic, more easily expelled DMA.

Mario Apata of the University of Chile in Santiago and his colleagues looked at variations in the gene coding for AS3MT in nearly 150 people from three regions of the country. They found higher frequencies of the protective variants in people from Camarones: 68 per cent there had them, as opposed to just 48 and 8 per cent of people in the other two. “Our data suggest that a high arsenic metabolization capacity has been selected as an adaptive mechanism in these populations in order to survive in an arsenic-laden environment,” the researchers conclude (American Journal of Physical Anthropology, doi.org/bz4s).

The variants that protect the Camarones people are called single nucleotide polymorphisms – changes in a single DNA letter of the genetic code. Anthropologist Lorena Madrigal of the University of South Florida in Tampa says these are such tiny mutations that they aren’t telling us exactly how the changes affect the enzyme molecule and its detoxifying effects.

Previous studies found similar mutations in the AS3MT gene that contribute to improved arsenic metabolisation in Vietnam and Argentina. Sequencing the entire chromosomal region around this gene could reveal more, but there’s still a long way to go before we fully understand the molecular mechanism for how arsenic resistance works.

Though it’s a fascinating example of what appears to be contemporary evolution in humans, it also underscores the water quality problems that many populations face, says Madrigal. And many may not be able to evolve to deal with it.

Another notable example of recent human evolution is lactose tolerance. A mutation which allowed adults to keep producing the enzyme lactase to digest milk emerged around 7000 years ago, alongside dairy farming, and now 35 per cent of adults carry it and can digest milk as a result.

“I would say [the rise in arsenic tolerance] is comparable to the rapid spread of lactose tolerance. Certainly the timescales we are looking at for both cases are comparable,” says Aaron Miller at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 16.

#1. To: Ada (#0)

For settlers in the Quebrada Camarones region of Chile’s Atacama desert some 7000 years ago, water posed more than a bit of a problem. They were living in the world’s driest non-polar desert, and several of their most readily available water sources, such as rivers and wells, had high levels of arsenic, which can cause a variety of health problems.

And they didn't migrate to where the water was good because........?

The question has to be asked,"Wouldn't humanity be stronger if idiots like this had died out before they were able to breed?"

sneakypete  posted on  2017-02-25   8:50:43 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: sneakypete (#1)

And they didn't migrate to where the water was good because........?

Because they didn't need to? Because they didn't know what arsenic was? Because they didn't know their water supply was contaminated?

Pinguinite  posted on  2017-02-25   9:28:47 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: Pinguinite (#3)

Because they didn't need to? Because they didn't know what arsenic was? Because they didn't know their water supply was contaminated?

You would think all the people getting sick and dying would be good clues.

sneakypete  posted on  2017-02-25   15:20:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: sneakypete (#5)

Who knows? Maybe the arsenic levels centuries ago was minimal and it grew over time, allowing the people to slowly adapt.

Pinguinite  posted on  2017-02-25   16:01:27 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Pinguinite (#6)

It's also possible that the arsenic levels were low enough to lower their life expectancy, but not kill them before reproducing. I'd guess arsenic, like most other toxic heavy metals, accumulates in the liver and other organs over time.

Dakmar  posted on  2017-02-25   16:05:11 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: Dakmar (#7)

It's also possible that the arsenic levels were low enough to lower their life expectancy, but not kill them before reproducing.

That's standard evolutionary thinking, which may be valid, though it may be possible that a biological organism might be able to adapt on it's own to slowly altering environmental conditions.

I'd guess arsenic, like most other toxic heavy metals, accumulates in the liver and other organs over time.

I know little about arsenic, but the article stated something about it breaking down into other substances, which would make it a compound, not an element as metals are. BTW, cilantro has a chemical that binds to heavy metals and can carry it out of the body. I believe mercury and lead are included on that list, so even metals can be removed from the body.

Pinguinite  posted on  2017-02-25   21:13:46 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: Pinguinite (#10)

Arsenic is an element, any breakdown would be at the atomic scale.

Dakmar  posted on  2017-02-25   21:28:41 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: Dakmar (#11)

Arsenic is an element, any breakdown would be at the atomic scale.

Ah... so it is. Atomic weight 33.

I misread this paragraph:

The body uses an enzyme called AS3MT to incorporate arsenic in two compounds, monomethylarsonic (MMA) acid and dimethylarsinic (DMA) acid. People who metabolise arsenic more efficiently convert more of it into the less toxic, more easily expelled DMA.

So the body doesn't break arsenic down, it merges it with other material into a compound.

Like I said, I don't know much about arsenic.

Pinguinite  posted on  2017-02-25   22:14:26 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: Pinguinite (#13)

So the body doesn't break arsenic down, it merges it with other material into a compound.

The symptoms sound similar to Lead and Mercury poisoning, in a broad sense. Remember the Mad Hatter?

Dakmar  posted on  2017-02-25   22:36:46 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 16.

#17. To: Dakmar (#16)

The symptoms sound similar to Lead and Mercury poisoning, in a broad sense. Remember the Mad Hatter?

I'll take that quiz without looking it up.

Mad Hatter was a common reference to hat makers in the middle ages who used mercury in their work. Over time they inhaled enough vapor to affect the brain and their sanity started to fail. The relatively high frequency of hat makers going insane caused the term "Mad Hatter" to take hold, kinda like "went postal" does today.

Of course it was not generally known at the time that mercury exposure was the cause of their ailment.

BTW, I have heard that drinking liquid mercury, while obviously ill advised, is actually relatively harmless as the very strong cohesive nature of mercury ensures almost no absorption. Eventually it passes through the system intact.

I know it's true because I read it on the internet.

Pinguinite  posted on  2017-02-25 23:50:30 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 16.

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