Monday, January 10, 2011

The Japanese national soccer team tied tonight (late on January 9, JAPAN TIME) with the Lebanese national team.

In extra time or at the 92nd minute, the Japanese team finally delivered an equalizer to settle the game at 1-1. Then, it got past the midnight of Sunday, January 8. It is now around 1 a.m. of Monday in Japan. But, the Lord God Almighty or Allah suggested me that I had to write some.


There is a genetic factor called SLC24A5 which looks like deciding the skin color of a human being. Europeans have the white skin due to this gene.
Sodium/potassium/calcium exchanger 5 (NCKX5) also known as solute carrier family 24 member 5 (SLC24A5) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC24A5 gene that has a major influence on natural skin colour variation...

The discovery of this gene has interesting social implications because the "derived" European allele was derived by mutation from the ancestral gene sequence. As noted by Penn State's Victor Canfield, the ancestral alanine is conserved in all vertebrates sequenced to date, mutant only in the European allele, but only rarely in West African or East Asian (primarily Chinese, Japanese and Korean) populations (presumably by admixture). Furthermore, the European mutation is associated with the largest region of diminished genetic variation in the CEU HapMap population, suggesting the possibility that the A111T mutation may be the subject of the single largest degree of selection in human populations of European ancestry. Selection for the derived allele is based on the need for sunlight to produce the essential nutrient, vitamin D. In northerly latitudes, there is less sun, greater requirement for body coverage due to colder climate, and frequently, diets poor in vitamin D, making lighter skin necessary for survival. Tests for this variation has obvious application to forensic science.

It has been estimated that the threonine allele became predominant amongst Europeans 5,300 to 12,000 years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLC24A5

However, it is 9,000 years ago that first Sumerian arrived at Mesopotamia.

Accordingly, while Europeans were not fully white, the Mesopotamia Civilization started.

It should be also noted that the last glacial epoch was ended 12,000 years ago. At the time, the skin of direct ancestors of Europeans came to become white.

Yet, it is believed that Neanderthal had white skins like today's Europeans, though they seem to have become extinct about 24,000 years ago. Nonetheless, it is confirmed that modern Europeans have common genes with Neanderthal at a ratio of several percent.

But, the influence of Neanderthal's legacy on the skin of modern Europeans is not yet confirmed, since there is 12,000 year time gap, if the above theories are all correct.

Anyway, this is a big discovery for me on this Sunday of January 9.




"In him what he has obtained and what he is yet to obtain are not observed.
Such a man is called 'a man of final peace' who is finally free from the world."
- The Buddha -