A Secret In Our Saliva: Food And Germs Helped Humans Evolve Into Unique Member Of Great Apes: WebDentistry: Home of SmileFinder!
Summary
“Salivary proteins in humans and other primates could be overlooked hotbeds of evolutionary activity,” said Stefan Ruhl, DDS, PhD, lead investigator and professor of oral biology in the UB School of Dental Medicine. Our findings now open up the possibility that dietary differences and pathogenic pressures may have also shaped a distinct saliva in humans.” The study published yesterday evening, October 15 in Molecular Biology and Evolution. “Did human salivary glands evolve to produce a more watery saliva to accommodate a diet which drastically differs from that of great apes?” asks Supaporn “Nina” Thamadilok, PhD, PharmD candidate at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and former post-doctoral research associate in Ruhl’s lab. “Whether any of the salivary proteins that show human-specific features were driven to change by diseases that came along with the evolution of humans into a top predator and the later shift towards agriculture and breeding livestock is an intriguing question worth examining. Hopefully, other labs will join with their expertises, and help us answer those fundamental questions.” Additional investigators include Kyoung-Soo Choi, an associate consultant biologist at Eli Lilly and Company and a former research technologist at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center; Lorenz Ruhl, a senior associate at Putnam Associates and a former summer research student at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center; Latif Kazim, PhD, emeritus faculty at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Fabian Schulte, PhD, research fellow, and Markus Hardt, PhD, assistant member of the staff, both at The Forsyth Institute.