Tibetan adaptation to high altitude occurred in less than 3,000 years

Thursday, July 1, 2010 - 15:35 in Biology & Nature

Scientists have compared the genomes of 50 Tibetans living above 14,000 feet to 40 Han Chinese living at essentially sea level. They found that within the last 3,000 years, Tibetans evolved genetic mutations in a number of genes having to do with how the body deals with oxygen, making it possible for Tibetans to thrive at high altitudes while their Han relatives cannot.

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