The planetary biology of ascorbate and uric acid and their relationship with the epidemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease
The planetary biology of ascorbate and uric acid and their relationship with the epidemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease
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DOI：
10.1016/j.mehy.2008.01.017
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发表时间：
2008-01-01
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Benner, Steven A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Johnson, Richard J.;Gaucher, Eric A.;Benner, Steven A.
与大多数哺乳动物相比，人类具有相对较低的血浆抗坏血酸水平和较高的血清尿酸水平，这是由于L-古洛糖酸内酯氧化酶和尿酸酶分别存在基因突变。我们回顾了为什么这些突变可能发生的主要假设。特别是，我们认为这两种突变可能通过在饮食变化和环境压力期间帮助维持血压而为早期灵长类动物提供了生存优势。我们进一步提出，在以西方饮食和增加身体活动为特征的当今社会中，这些突变具有增加高血压和心血管疾病风险的无意缺点。最后，我们建议，一个“行星生物学”的方法，其中遗传变化进行分析，其生物作用和历史背景可能提供了理想的方法，了解生物学的过去，现在和未来。(c)2008爱思唯尔有限公司保留所有权利。
Humans have relatively low plasma ascorbate levels and high serum uric acid levels compared to most mammals due to the presence of genetic mutations in L-gulonotactone oxidase and uricase, respectively. We review the major hypotheses for why these mutations may have occurred. In particular, we suggest that both mutations may have provided a survival advantage to early primates by helping maintain blood pressure during periods of dietary change and environmental stress. We further propose that these mutations have the inadvertent disadvantage of increasing our risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease in today's society characterized by Western diet and increasing physical inactivity. Finally, we suggest that a "planetary biology" approach in which genetic changes are analyzed in relation to their biological action and historical context may provide the ideal approach towards understanding the biology of the past, present and future. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.