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GOOD news—if you have certain Neanderthal DNA 
& get #COVID19. People with certain Neanderthal genes on chromosome 12 have lower rates of ICU. This region encodes proteins that activate enzymes that are important during infections with RNA viruses.
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/9/e2026309118
& get #COVID19. People with certain Neanderthal genes on chromosome 12 have lower rates of ICU. This region encodes proteins that activate enzymes that are important during infections with RNA viruses. https://www.pnas.org/content/118/9/e2026309118
2) That said, another Neanderthal gene is bad. “Recently, it was shown that a haplotype in a region on chromosome 3 is associated with becoming critically ill upon infection with #SARSCoV2 and was contributed to modern humans by Neanderthals”.
3) For this new finding, “a haplotype on chromosome 12, which is associated with a ∼22% reduction in relative risk of becoming severely ill with #COVID19, is inherited from Neandertals. This haplotype is present at substantial frequencies in all regions of 
outside Africa.”
outside Africa.”
4) Neanderthals “are likely to have adapted to infectious diseases, which are known to be strong selective factors that may, at least partly, have differed between sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia” https://www.pnas.org/lookup/external-ref?access_num=24776769&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fpnas%2F118%2F9%2Fe2026309118.atom
5) “Indeed, several genetic variants contributed by archaic hominins to modern humans have been shown to affect genes involved in immunity. https://www.pnas.org/lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiQUJTVCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6Mzoic2NpIjtzOjU6InJlc2lkIjtzOjExOiIzMzQvNjA1Mi84OSI7czo0OiJhdG9tIjtzOjI4OiIvcG5hcy8xMTgvOS9lMjAyNjMwOTExOC5hdG9tIjt9czo4OiJmcmFnbWVudCI7czowOiIiO30=
6) variants at several loci containing genes involved in innate immunity come from Neandertals and Denisovans (15), for example, toll-like receptor gene variants which decrease the susceptibility to Helicobacter pylori infections and risk for allergies. https://www.pnas.org/lookup/external-ref?access_num=26748514&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fpnas%2F118%2F9%2Fe2026309118.atom
7) Furthermore, proteins interacting with RNA viruses have been shown to be encoded by DNA regions introgressed from Neandertals more often than expected. https://www.pnas.org/lookup/external-ref?access_num=30290142&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fpnas%2F118%2F9%2Fe2026309118.atom
8) Regarding the other Neanderthal gene on chromosome 3 that increased respiratory failure, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2020283, was contributed by Neanderthals according to scientists.
9) For this current study that was protective, “the index variant of the protective haplotype in the GenOMICC study (rs10735079) matches all three Neandertal genomes available. The relative risk of needing ICU is reduced by ∼22% per copy of the Neandertal haplotype (OR= 0.78)”
10) the G allele of the index variant “rs10735079” is lower in Africans and certain Asian populations, and much more common in Europe (as expected in Neanderthals), but its still quite dispersed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/snp/rs10735079#frequency_tab
11) As for the other bad Neanderthal gene on chromosome 3 (sorry I’m skipping around), found in the NEJM paper above, it is best indexed by the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) called “rs35044562”. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3?fbclid=IwAR252fqARfe7JOKGPixlf7eY_wFBjsJgT4b_XC30RV8EigD8kMXZSzeySNE
