1932

Abstract

The polymorphisms within the human genome include several functional variants that cause debilitating inherited diseases. An elevated frequency of some of these deleterious mutations can be explained by a beneficial effect that confers a selective advantage owing to disease resistance in carriers of such mutations during an infectious disease outbreak. We here review plausible examples of balanced functional polymorphisms and their roles in the defense against pathogens. The genome organization of the chemokine receptor and gene clusters and their influence on the HIV/AIDS epidemic provides compelling evidence for the interaction of infectious and genetic diseases in recent human history.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.genom.3.022502.103149
2002-09-01
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.genom.3.022502.103149
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.genom.3.022502.103149
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error