Are Tibetans different?
Dear Friends,
When I went to Tibet for the first time, I was told that I will have no altitude sickness from a lady in our group. She said because I was Tibetans and it’s in the genes. I laughed at her but in the back of my mind, hoped she was right.
When I got to Tibet I was so sick and the four other people (Malaysians) travelling with me had no problems at all. I had to carry an oxygen tank when I went out and when sleeping I had to have extra oxygen pumped to my nose with a attached pipe.
Well I just found out about these studies that Tibetans have slightly different DNA and maybe what that travelling companion lady said had some truth in it. The only the explanations I came up with is I am half Mongolian and not pure Tibetan so my genes got diluted hence the nasty altitude sickness I experienced? But how does that explain the Malaysians in the group who had no problems in Lhasa (3,650 meters or 12,000 ft above sea level) and have no Tibetan DNA as we know it? Well anyways I would like to submit some of my blood for study as a half Tibetan and see how that works. It could add to their research.
In the Tibetan tradition, I am recognized as a reincarnated Lama of Gaden Monastery in my previous life. The same lady who was traveling in our group in Tibet who told me I would not be sick because I am Tibetan was quite sincere when she said that. She does have very paranormal and ‘out of the world’ ideas that sometimes prove to be real. I’ve known her for 20 years. When we all arrived in Gaden Monastery and alighted off the vehicle, she spouted another ‘idea’ to me, the first thing she said to me was “Do you remember any of this from your previous life?”
Tsem Rinpoche
8,000-year-old genetic mystery in Tibet solved by Utah study
By Kristen Moulton | First Published Aug 17 2014 11:15 am | Last Updated Aug 29 2014 09:18 am
- (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Donald A. McClain, endocrinologist and a professor of internal medicine, Josef Prchal, a professor of internal medicine at the U. School of Medicine, and Tsewang Tashi, a Tibetan who is a hematologist and researcher at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, in Prchal’s lab at the University of Utah Medical Center, Friday, August 15, 2014. University of Utah scientists are the lead researchers on a study publishing Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics. The study concludes that Tibetans who thrive in the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau (average elevation 14,800) do so because of a genetic mutation 8,000 years ago.
Thriving at high altitude, where most mortals suffer from oxygen deprivation? There’s a gene for that.
A study led by University of Utah researchers has identified for the first time the genetic reason Tibetans can live without medical complications on the Tibetan Plateau, which has an average elevation of 14,800 feet.
The results of the study, led by senior author Josef Prchal, an internist and hematologist at the U., were published online Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics.
By taking blood samples from 26 Tibetans living in Utah and Virginia — as well as dozens more from Tibetans and other Asians living in China and India — they found the gene EGLN1 changed by a single DNA base pair.
Lowlanders who lack the genetic mutation suffer in thin air because their blood becomes thick with oxygen-carrying red blood cells in an attempt to feed oxygen-starved tissues. That can lead to long-term complications such as acute mountain sickness or heart failure, Prchal said.
But Tibetans’ bodies do not react to high altitude by producing extra red blood vessels.
The mutation apparently began 8,000 years ago and “spread like fire” through the population, he said. Those who had it thrived and, by natural selection, their offspring did, too.
Today, 88 percent of Tibetans have the genetic variation, but it is virtually absent in closely related lowland Asians, the study found.
DNA from Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mongolians and Filipinos were compared against the Tibetan DNA.
“The significance is … that we understand more about evolution,” said Tsewang Tashi, a research associate at the university’s Huntsman Cancer Institute and one of the study’s authors.
Tashi, who was born in India to Tibetan parents, came to the U. in 2012 and was a great help during visits to Asia, Prchal said.
Prchal began the research in 2007, but it was complicated by cultural and political difficulties.
A partnership between Qinghai province in the north of China and the university, formalized when former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman was ambassador to China, laid some groundwork. Prchal was able to do research at the Research Center for High-Altitude Medicine of Qinghai University and initial results were published in 2010.
Prchal also was able to meet with the Dalai Lama in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Tibetan people’s spiritual leader wrote a letter endorsing the research.
Prchal and the Dalai Lama had a mutual friend — now-deceased Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel — and that helped, said Prchal, who fled communist Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Tashi knew the culture and language and could help Tibetans understand the research, Prchal said. Tashi also recruited Tibetans living in Utah and Virginia to donate their blood for DNA testing.
Pema Chagzoetsang, who was just 10 months old when her parents fled Tibet over the Himalayas in 1959 to escape the communist regime in China, was one of those donating her blood for the study. A program specialist for the state homeless program, she also recruited other Tibetans living in Salt Lake City.
Chagzoetsang draws a political implication from the research. “We are all saying we are not Chinese, and this proves it,” she says.
Prchal is thinking more along medical lines. “This mutation is extremely important because it regulates many functions in the human body,” he said.
It might have implications for cancer research, and also for diabetes or high blood pressure at low elevations. One of the study’s authors, U. endocrinologist Donald McClain, for instance, continues to research a connection to obesity and diabetes.
“There’s much more to be learned,” Prchal said.
A “huge amount of credit,” he said, goes to Felipe Lorenzo, a research associate in the hematology department at the U., who found the genetic mutation in 2011 after considerable effort.
After that, collaborators in Finland were able to figure out the function of the mutation, he said.
The research finding likely will be no surprise to the scientific community, Tashi said.
“Polar bears thrive in the north and camels thrive in the desert,” he said. “It’s the same with human beings. We’ve evolved to our own habitat and environment.”
Such research will become more difficult in future years because of the worldwide dispersal of distinct populations, he said.
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58292738-78/prchal-research-tibetans-blood.html.csp
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Interesting …..it seem that Tibetans have slightly different DNA from many people living in other parts of the world. I did not know this till I read this article. Tibet has the highest average elevation of any other region in the world, and with the discovery of that genes from an extinct human species help Tibetans thrive at high altitudes. What has helps them the mountain Sherpas and other Tibetans breathe easy at high altitudes was inherited from an ancient species of human. Amazingly ….the Tibetans have evolved and maintained genetic adaptations that suit them to life above 15,000 feet. The Tibetan population has been residing on high plateau for thousands of years and developed unique adaptation to the local . This rare variation was found by the researcher. This variant allowed them to survive despite low oxygen levels at elevations of 15,000 feet or more, whereas most people develop thick blood at high altitudes, leading to cardiovascular problems. The Tibetan version is incredibly different to those in other people…..an incredible findings.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this interesting findings.
Thanks Rinpoche for sharing this interesting article! Just wondering the gene different between Tibetans with other races is because of evolution or other reasons? This let me recall back one of my teacher told me Russian has straight bridged nose compare to other races is because they need to breath in for longer time so the air become warmer when it goes into the lungs, and we can see Bornean’s nose is shorter as people here in South East Asia do not need that..I do not know if that is correct, just shared with you guys..since our gene can be changed by the environment, for sure our mind can be transformed by doing positive things..don’t know when Tibetans come to Malaysia if they will suffer from too much oxygen, lol..
Wow.. this is new and interesting. Never thought of some human being are different in DNA. It is quite true that human being will evolved over time to adapt to the environment. But, i too have a thought that, Tibetan genes might have some aliens gene in it? Thus, they can live in such a high altitude place,
Dear Rinpoche-la,
I am very interested in this theme. My thoughts are, that there is not only one ancestor in human-story. It looks like there were many more ancestors-lines. For example the neandertal, european, asian, africans etc.
Surely we are all humans but our ancestors long long time ago, are of different human strains. For example i red, that they found a human strain who was very little and tiny. Like the hobbits in the book Lord of the rings. And then i have to think about your blogs about the bigfoot. Look the asians. They are so different to people from Kongo for example. So i belive – like you do – the different ancestors had different talents and conditions. And the reason was the adaption on different circumstances. So maybe the tibetans have more differents than take more oxygene from air. Perhaps the religiously is one of these things. Who knows
謝謝仁波切查找此有關人類遺傳變異有趣的文章分享。也譲我多少了解人类基因组的認識。
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.It is true that good genes could help our bodies to overcome certain adaptation to the environment.But through time our genes will evolve further to adapt to our current environment.Our bodies tend to forget the past too….
As for me..I know I have a bad gene that gives me sinus and sensitive skin..Well this must be due to karma.
Interesting article.
Clearly it shows evolution is ongoing and will be passed to next generation. That really explains how migrating animals are able to survive in new habitats and thrive from there.
Similarly, as humans, we adapt much quicker and our bodies will most likely “re-program” to be suited in a new environment.
Great research.
Thank you.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing. According to the article, 88% of the of Tibetans have the genetic variation. May be Rinpoche is from the group of 12%.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing on this interesting article about the human genetic mutation. I do believe that every human being from different parts of the world has specific physical ability to survive according to their own respective local climate and the altitude of the land. The same theory works to all living beings including animals on the land and inside the ocean. For those who are born as Tibetans and living in Tibet with full accomplished spiritual practice, they should have collected a lot of merits from the previous life. It works the same with KARMA too. We need the good merits to meet with Dharma and sufficient merits to practice Dharma for many future lifetimes.
It is indeed very interesting. I felt it is highly possible that our body will make slight changes to adapt to our surroundings and this is what is happening here 🙂
I wonder if we can bring our DNA to our next live? May be the 4 malaysians who travelled with Rinpoche were Tibetans in their previous life and inherited the gene? Just thinking aloud… LOL