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While many people worry about the photogenic arrangement of their teeth, most probably don’t think about the individual shape of their teeth. Well, you should, because it could be partially determined by your Neanderthal ancestry.
An international team of researchers co-led by Kaustubh Adhikari of University College London (UCL) has discovered dental differences between ethnicities, including an apparent characteristic determined by a gene inherited from Neanderthals. Your research, published on December 12 in Current biologycould one day help diagnose and treat genetic dental conditions.
The researchers, including experts from Fudan University in China, used 3D scans of dental casts to analyze the measurements of the teeth of 882 volunteers of European, Native American and African ancestry. They then compared these dimensions with the volunteers’ genetic data and identified 18 regions of the genome involved in the size and shape of various teeth. In particular, 17 of these regions were identified for the first time as being connected to tooth dimensions.
“Teeth can tell us a lot about human evolution, as well-preserved ancient teeth are particularly important to archaeologists, shedding light on milestones such as when we transitioned to cooked foods and the size of human teeth began to shrink.” . But little is known about the genetic basis of variation within the modern human population in tooth size and shape, in part because of challenges in measuring teeth,” Adhikari said in a report from the UCL. statement. “We have now identified numerous genes that affect the development of our teeth, some of which are responsible for differences between ethnic groups.”
Interestingly, scientists suggest that one of the identified genes originates from Neanderthals, with whom ancient humans interbred during our relatively brief prehistoric coexistence. The genetic variant, found only in volunteers of European ancestry, was associated with thinner incisors (measured from front to back). The researchers also noted that people with this variant tended to have smaller teeth overall. Additionally, the team discovered that the EDAR gene, previously linked to the shape of incisors in East Asian peoples, also affects the width of all teeth.
However, “our findings did not shed light on whether the genes that identify tooth shape were selected in evolution due to particular advantages for dental health, so it is possible that the genes were selected due to influences that They have in other areas, with differences in the shape of the teeth resulting as a side effect,” explained Andrés Ruiz-Linares from UCL and Aix-Marseille University, who co-led the study. Simply put, researchers aren’t sure why genes evolved to affect tooth shape in this way.
“Some of the genes that contribute to normal variation in tooth dimensions among healthy people may also contribute to pathogenic variation, such as lack of tooth growth or other dental health conditions,” said Qing Li of the University of China. of Fudan, who co-led the study. study. Pathogenic variations are genetic differences that increase an individual’s chances of developing a particular genetic disease or disorder. In other words, the genes that determine tooth measurements could also determine health problems.
Consequently, “we hope that our findings could be useful medically, if people with particular dental problems could undergo genetic testing to aid in diagnosis, or if some dental abnormalities could one day be treated with gene therapies,” Li added.
It remains to be seen how this research could lead to practical medical applications. Meanwhile, Neanderthal teeth join a host of other features we may have inherited from our long-lost relatives, including pain tolerance and nose shapes.
