Researchers have discovered a possible genetic link between Neanderthal DNA and a lower risk of developing a serious case of the coronavirus.
A new study, conducted by Hugo Zeberg and Svante Pääbo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, followed recent research that suggested that Neanderthal DNA was actually linked to a higher risk of serious illness.
They found that a particular haplogroup, a population that shares common DNA, was about 22 percent less likely to develop a severe case of COVID-19. The common DNA is believed to be inherited from Neanderthals.
The haplogroup is common in populations outside of Africa, the study notes, while the Neanderthal evolved outside the continent.
The Neanderthal DNA believed to protect against disease was found on the 12th chromosome, while the DNA discovered in a previous study that the researchers theorized increased the risk of serious disease was found on the third chromosome.
The researchers said Neanderthals and their Asian sister group the Denisovans went extinct tens of thousands of years ago, but their genetic impact is still there.
Some of these contributions may reflect adaptations to environments outside of Africa, where Neanderthals lived for more than hundreds of thousands of years. During this time, they likely adapted to infectious diseases, which are known to be strong selective factors that differed, at least in part, between Sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia, ”they wrote.
The study suggested that the Neanderthal DNA that protects against serious disease may have occurred as a result of previous epidemics caused by RNA viruses, a category to which coronavirus belongs.