Comments on: Not cool Rome, not cool at all.

Not cool Rome, not cool at all.

Lizc — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:46:56 -0800

New Scientist reports today that inhabitants of the former Roman Empire have much lower levels of a gene variant that protects against the virus that causes AIDS - CCR5-Delta32 to be exact. Previously, this genetic mutation had been attributed to the spread of the Black Death.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:59:44 -0800

Ooh, I saw something similar to this a couple years ago -- there was this one tiny town in England where it was said everyone seemed to have had an unusually high resistance to the plague. Geneticists did testing on the residents whose families had been in this town since those days, and found that they had a particular gene variant. Even more -- the folklore of the town stated that there were some people who just didn't get sick at all, and others who got sick but recovered. Geneticists speculated that since this was a recessive gene trait, that people who got two copies of the variant were the ones who didn't get sick at all, and people who got just one copy were the ones to got sick but recovered. Then they tested a couple people who had proven resistant to the AIDS virus, and they had this same gene variant.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:05:31 -0800

Wait..do you mean the COMMUNITY had lower levels? Because I thought that you didn't have LEVELS of genes, I thought you either had a gene or you didn't? Am I stupid?

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:28:25 -0800

I wonder what the advantage of that lack of protection against plague and AIDS is.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:33:44 -0800

From the article: Intriguingly, modern people with the CCR5-Delta32 variant are more susceptible to the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. So it's a toss up between AIDS/Plague vs west nile and its mosquito-borne ilk.

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:42:21 -0800

From the article: Intriguingly, modern people with the CCR5-Delta32 variant are more susceptible to the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. So it's a toss up between AIDS/Plague vs west nile and its mosquito-borne ilk. posted by GuyZero at 1:33 PM on September 4 [+] [!] VIRUS DEATHMATCH TO THE DEATH CAGE MATCH THIS SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAAAAAAAY!!!!

By: Postroad

Postroad — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:51:37 -0800

I just watched Gladiator film and none of those guys seemed to be infected.

By: stopgap

stopgap — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:54:06 -0800

I wonder what the advantage of that lack of protection against plague and AIDS is. There doesn't need to be an advantage to not having the gene. If lack of protection against plague and AIDS still let people live long enough to make babies, the gene would be perpetuated whether it gives an advantage or not.

By: unmake

unmake — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:34:50 -0800

Last paragraph: "Intriguingly, modern people with the CCR5-Delta32 variant are more susceptible to the mosquito-borne West Nile virus."

By: mccarty.tim

mccarty.tim — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:27:44 -0800

So, does this mean AIDS would spread even more quickly if it weren't for the plague? Interesting that the same mechanism would work against the two diseases, assuming it is legitimate causation.

By: rodgerd

rodgerd — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:46:04 -0800

mccarty.tim, yeah. There's a very interesting book, Tears of the Cheetah which has a discussion around the likely causative effects around it. Essentially the areas hit hardest by the plague have long-term selected for an immune system that is robust against HIV.

By: Maias

Maias — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:02:39 -0800

Often genes that have benefit against one disease cause other problems-- classic example is a gene that protects against malaria, but when you have two copies, you have sickle cell anemia. And, there can be levels of a gene in a population because that's about what percent of the population has the gene. The individuals either have one copy or two (though sometimes things are more complicated).

By: Weighted Companion Cube

Weighted Companion Cube — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:38:43 -0800

"Intriguingly, modern people with the CCR5-Delta32 variant are more susceptible to the mosquito-borne West Nile virus." So people w/o CCR5-Delta 32 are from Mediterranean regions, and are less susceptible to West Nile...well, that makes sense. The Mediterranean was historically a malarial area, and thalassemia is also endemic to the region, anemia at the benefit of somewhat antimalarial. So hell, maybe there were other, now rare/extinct viruses or diseases that were also beneficial to be less susceptible to.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:52:05 -0800

"Our results show that CCR5 deficiency in mice does not protect against infection or death caused by experimental Yersinia infection, making it unlikely that the CCR5Δ32 allele protects against plague. A modelling study¹¹ reaches a similar conclusion, with smallpox instead of plague being proposed as the disease that selected for the CCR5Δ32 allele."

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:16:59 -0800

It's nobody's fault, not even the Romans.

By: atrazine

atrazine — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:10:36 -0800

What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, there's the plague

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:25:12 -0800

I wonder what the advantage of that lack of protection against plague and AIDS is. Shorter lines at McDonalds.