A study led by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) analyzed the genome of 2,723 Brazilians from different regions, and created an unprecedented genetic mapping in Brazil.
The research, Posted in Science MagazineIt showed a deep and historical portrait of miscegenation in Brazil and found more than 8.7 million genetic variants that had never been identified before. The number is a reflection of this being the first large -scale genomic mapping in Brazil, as knowledge production in the area is very concentrated in the United States, Europe and, more recently, in Asia.
“You It will never identify a genetic variant linked to a disease if this variant does not have in the population you are studying. If I have studying Europeans, I won’t identify an African variant because the Africa has a different evolutionary history. America has a different evolutionary history and this has all led to the accumulation of diversity, ”said Tabita Hünemeier, professor at the Department of Evolutionary Genetics and Evolutionary Biology at the USP Institute of Biology and a researcher at the Spain Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC/UPF). First point, for any diagnosis or for any study, is to understand the population we are studying. ”
A study of these proportions in Brazil is important because of the volume of miscegenation in Brazil and the brutality with which this process took place. One of the study notes, for example, shows an asymmetry in mating, indicating through genetic inheritance, a greater prevalence of relationships between men with European genetic predominance and women of African and indigenous genetic predominance.
“This impacts our view of our own history. Impacts because we can rescue some events that do not have very well detailed data. They corroborate some important historical things, ”said the researcher.“ It has a huge contingent of descendants who also have the right to know how its history occurred. ”
Impacts of Genomics on Health
Second Hünemeier, this research is a first major step towards the development of medicine in Brazil. The branch can benefit from genomic analysis precisely because health agencies will have more sediment to direct public policies and better understand the particularities of the Brazilian population and, ultimately, each individual in precision medicine.
“The path is long, but now we have a way. We had studies showing more or less genomic diversity,Never at this level of detail. THE diversity is increasing and we begins to have the ability to think of alternatives Public health, to understand the population, to understand the groups, ”he said.“ These 8 million new variants may potentially be related to diseases. It’s time to look at these mutations, see the impact of this on health. ”
“We must establish a parameter here. Although the population has some high European percentages, in some places, the European parameter will never answer all questions.”
See also: “Migraine can be a genetic condition,” says expert
Genetic testing points to ancestry and risk of disease; understand
This content was originally published in an unprecedented study finds 8.7 million new genetic variants in Brazil on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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