Концепция адаптивных типов в современных исследованиях экологии человека

Вестник Московского университета. Серия 23: Антропология. 2024. № 4. С. 81–89.

Kozlov A.

The accumulation of data from classical and molecular genetics made it possible to improve our understanding of the specificity of adaptive types, which definition previously based on morpho-physiological complexes. Besides, the genetic approach allows revealing the evolutionary role of adaptive types.

The study aimed to consider the formation of adaptive types as an evolutionary phenomenon going on at the intraspecific level.

Materials and methods. The study populations have been grouped into two clusters. The first constituted the ethnic groups that are anthropologically affine but differ in adaptive types and husbandry practices. The second included the anthropologically unrelated ethnic groups having similar environment economy systems and adaptive types. We analyzed the genotype and allele frequencies of the metabolism-associated APOE, LCT, TREH, UCP1 genes, and Fok1 and BsmI polymorphisms of VDR gene. A total of 749 samples in the study represents the ethnic groups of Komi-Permyaks (181), Komi (n = 235), Komi-Izhems (n = 200), Shores (n = 133).

Results. A resemblance in the morphological and physiological complexes that have convergently developed in the course of environmental adaptations have been shown to reflect similarities in the gene features of anthropologically unrelated populations. In contrast, in the historically related groups that have utilized different biotopes and types of husbandry, there are growing divergence in the frequencies of metabolism-associated genotypes and alleles. These findings imply that ecological adaptations of modern human populations drive the minor changes in allele frequencies, which have occurred over a few generations.

Conclusion. The apparent morpho-physiological and population-genetic specificity of the adaptive types allows us to regard the process of their formation as microevolution.

Keywords: адаптация, adaptation, среда обитания, indigenous people of the North, environment, коренное население Севера

Publication based on the results of: Social integration in temporal and spatial dimensions: values, strategies and practices (2023)