Question

Which of the following traits have been shown to be under selection in various population of Homo sapiens?

Select all that apply

Select all that apply

Lactase persistance

Bipedalism

Opposable thumbs

Hemoglobin

Amylase

Immunity

Answer 1

naturally, selection acts on traits which can be inherited.

Lactase persistence, haemoglobin, amylase and immunity are the traits to be under selection in various populations of Homo sapiens.

A trait in which the adult continues to produce lactate throughout adulthood is called as lactate persistence. this is one of the important traits for niche development in humans. The LP trait frequency is found to be 35% of the adults living now.

Haemoglobin- the blood group alleles varies among populations of human beings. for eg- allele B is found more in Asian populations whereas allele A is found in the African population (from ABO blood grouping system)

Amylase breaks down starch consumed by us. It is reported that the number of copies of the salivary amylase gene varies with the population. population adapted to more starch intake have more number of amylase copies. So this trait can also be used for selecting population in homo sapiens.

By far the genes for immunity and defence have experienced the most positive selection in humans and other organisms.

The remaining traits such as bipedalism and opposable thumbs are those which can be used to differentiate homo sapiens to some other species as they are common to all the Homo sapiens