Ten amazing abilities are due to rare genetic mutations.

 10. No high cholesterol:

While most of us worry about the amount of foods accused of raising blood cholesterol, we find some individuals are not affected by this issue, especially since they have a mutation that led to a deficiency in the gene PCSK9.

After scientists discovered more than ten years ago how this deficiency affects blood cholesterol levels in some African Americans, companies created drugs that suppress this gene, and it was noticed after the experiments that this step reduced cholesterol by 75%.

9- HIV resistance:

HIV is considered one of the most dangerous viruses that infect humans, but some individuals can resist it through a mutation that stops the action of the CCR5 protein, especially since the virus needs it to bind to the CD4 receptor and be able to enter the host's cells.

 

However, some types of this virus have generated other proteins that they use to enter cells.

8- Resistance to infection with malaria:

Only people with sickle cell anemia can fight malaria, and sickle cell anemia is defined as a hereditary disease that is transmitted in a recessive manner that causes the production of misshapen red cells.

The female Anopheles mosquito transmits malaria to the human body, and in it this parasite invades the red corpuscles to multiply in them, and then destroys them to move to others, repeating the previous stage.

If the globules are deformed, it will be difficult for malaria to enter them, which gives people with sickle cell anemia high resistance in areas of malaria epidemic.

7- The ability to withstand cold:

Residents of cold regions respond differently to lower temperatures compared to those who live in temperate regions.

This can be partly due to hereditary factors, as their basal metabolism rate is more than 50% higher, and the number of their sweat glands is lower in the body and more on the face.

In a previous study, researchers examined the effect of cold on different races, and found that people living in cold regions tolerate lower temperatures more than others.

6- Ability to live in heights:

Highlanders maintain their vital jobs within their natural limits at an altitude of 4000 meters and with oxygen 40% less than sea level.

The researchers found that this adaptation had a genetic basis. The population’s bodies adapted to these conditions as their rib cage expanded and lung capacity increased.

In contrast to low-income residents, they do not have an increased red blood cell count when oxygen is low, due to a change associated with the EPAS1 gene.

5- Immunity against a brain disease:

Kuru disease is caused by prions that infect cannibalistic groups or infected animals. In it, the infected suffer from a spongy encephalopathy that leads to disorders that end in death within a year, but some of those who survived show immunity to it due to the difference in the arrangement of the DNA sequences in the G127V gene.

This gene is now widely spread among these groups (since 1900 AD), which makes it a modern case of natural selection.

4- Golden Blood:

Group O is considered a general parameter for everyone in blood donation centers, but we cannot consider it an absolute reality, as we now find about 35 blood group systems other than the well-known ABO system with a wide variety in each of them.

It is difficult for owners of these groups to find a donor because they are rare, and yet there is a more rare type that does not contain the Rh-null blood antigen, so we can consider it the general vector for almost all types of groups.

This rare group carries about 40 people on Earth.

3- Seeing clearly underwater:

Some people, like the Moken people, have an amazing ability to see clearly underwater to a depth of 22 meters. This is due to their lifestyle, which depends on spending eight months in a year on board the boats, in which children dive in order to bring food and their eyes adjust to increase the reflection of light under the water, which makes vision clearer. He took a test on one of the Moken children, and it was later noticed that his vision was twice as clear than his European counterpart.

 

This adaptation resulted after prolonged training and scientists have successfully tested its validity.

2- Bones of high density:

In most humans, bones lose their density with age, and this leads to inevitable fractures that may be life-threatening, but a mutation in the SOST gene that was found in groups of Dutch origin in South Africa may cause the opposite effect, as it controls the protein that regulates bone growth.

Scientists have already begun to conduct studies related to this mutation in order to arrive at a solution that reflects with it the problem of osteoporosis that an individual suffers from with age.

1- The need for fewer hours of sleep:

Some people need six hours or less of sleep a day, yet we find that they maintain their daily activity without suffering from specific health problems.

It is not necessary that they have more physical strength than others, or that they have previously trained their bodies to have a few hours of sleep, but this is due to a very rare mutation in the DEC2 gene, and scholars believe that this mutation provides better, more efficient and deep sleep to its carriers during REM, which makes Their sleep hours are shorter.