Rh negative comes from the Anthropocene?
I've been studying blood groups for a while now and I came with this hypothesis.
The Rhesus marker, provides information of antigens in red cells.
Being positive is you have the Rh antigen, the same as the macaque/rhesus monkey(where it was discovered first).
Also the ABO blood groups are found in primates (B in gorillas and A,O in chimpanzees).
These are the 2 most common blood group systems, but there are dozens. And many seem to have roots in our primate ancestry.
But then there is Rh negativity(aka, not having the Rh antigen). That trait is absent from other species, even Neanderthals and Denosivans were discovered to be Rh positive.
It's even not found among East Asians or Native Americans. Races that diverged from West Eurasians in the Paleolithic.
The only places where it's found is in Europe(some 15%, it's a recessive gene) and to a lower extent, in the Middle East.
Even Nigeria and Ethiopia have some, but it quickly drops to almost nothing once you cross the Equator.
My hypothesis is that it evolved in West Eurasia, particularly around the Neolithic/Metal Ages.
That is when populations in the area "start" having their current shape.
It peaks in Basques(who have an outstanding percentage by the way).
The fact that Nigeria and Ethiopia have received Middle Eastern migration during the Holocene kind of adds evidence to my point.
mt-DNA H(H1 H3 in particular) and R1b(Df-27 in particular) are the main ancestries of Basques, so it evolved at least in some H, and thrived in H1 or H3.
That is the most likely explanation by now.
But that's not all.
You see, antigens seem to be selected in different environments as result of the diseases you have to face.
And in that sense, Rh- is a bit unlucky. Cause it's more represented in almost any disease.
Except for heavely contagious ones related to urban settlements. Such as the Plague, CoVid and even AIDS.
And these is what suggests it may have appeared in recent times. When sedentary settlement, urbanization was underway.
It seems more prepared for diseases of civilization.
These two arguments are clues. But I still don't have any idea of the exact details of which people carried the original mutation and how it spread.
I've been studying blood groups for a while now and I came with this hypothesis.
The Rhesus marker, provides information of antigens in red cells.
Being positive is you have the Rh antigen, the same as the macaque/rhesus monkey(where it was discovered first).
Also the ABO blood groups are found in primates (B in gorillas and A,O in chimpanzees).
These are the 2 most common blood group systems, but there are dozens. And many seem to have roots in our primate ancestry.
But then there is Rh negativity(aka, not having the Rh antigen). That trait is absent from other species, even Neanderthals and Denosivans were discovered to be Rh positive.
It's even not found among East Asians or Native Americans. Races that diverged from West Eurasians in the Paleolithic.
The only places where it's found is in Europe(some 15%, it's a recessive gene) and to a lower extent, in the Middle East.
Even Nigeria and Ethiopia have some, but it quickly drops to almost nothing once you cross the Equator.
My hypothesis is that it evolved in West Eurasia, particularly around the Neolithic/Metal Ages.
That is when populations in the area "start" having their current shape.
It peaks in Basques(who have an outstanding percentage by the way).
The fact that Nigeria and Ethiopia have received Middle Eastern migration during the Holocene kind of adds evidence to my point.
mt-DNA H(H1 H3 in particular) and R1b(Df-27 in particular) are the main ancestries of Basques, so it evolved at least in some H, and thrived in H1 or H3.
That is the most likely explanation by now.
But that's not all.
You see, antigens seem to be selected in different environments as result of the diseases you have to face.
And in that sense, Rh- is a bit unlucky. Cause it's more represented in almost any disease.
Except for heavely contagious ones related to urban settlements. Such as the Plague, CoVid and even AIDS.
And these is what suggests it may have appeared in recent times. When sedentary settlement, urbanization was underway.
It seems more prepared for diseases of civilization.
These two arguments are clues. But I still don't have any idea of the exact details of which people carried the original mutation and how it spread.
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