New findings have recently discovered that the starch digesting gene, amylase, was present in the human subspecies 800,000 years ago, thousands of years before any human developed agriculture.
This merely redrew our picture of human evolution and the way our ancestors adapted to sources of food.
Long before dinner rolls and French fries became staples of the human diet, our ancient ancestors possessed genes that would later prove useful in breaking down these starchy foods.
A group of researchers has broken open the genetics of modern humans to show how the amylase gene, which breaks down starches into sugar, has been present in human evolution much longer than people ever imagined.
One amylase gene makes an enzyme that splits starches, such as pasta and potatoes. Scientists had earlier concluded that the human duplication of this gene happened simultaneously with the start of agriculture about 12,000 years ago.
New evidence, however, argues that multiple copies of the gene have existed in humans over at least 800,000 years.
We have found that this gene predates not just agriculture, but also early human migrations from Africa, said Omer Gokcumen, co-author of the study.
Interesting is the fact that similar genes were even found in our ancient cousins, Neanderthals and Denisovans, which suggests the sharing of an evolutionary adaptation.
It remains unclear how that gene benefited early humans, but the study offers new insights into how our ancestors adjusted to their environment. Today, such genes might explain why starchy foods taste so good to us. The research highlights the power of modern genetic analysis in unlocking hidden chapters of human history.
