This could also support that there is some benifit of having the gene in colder climates. As with the sickle cell example earlier, in places with maleria, people with two recessive SS genes can get maleria. People with the disease and carriers cannot get maleria. So the optimum is to be a carrier. This could be similar to the HLA B27/AS connection in people in colder enviroments. It would seem to me that there must be some advantage to Eskimos that would have caused them to adapt to some secondary problem by adapting. (people with HLA B27 have a resistance to virus X, thus they are better reproductivly, hence the percentage of the population with the gene goes up.) While the genetic trade off is that a small percentage gets AS, it is actually benificial for the group as a whole. Same thing with Sickle Cell. Since carriers are immune to maleria, in some parts of the world 10-15% of the populations is carriers of sickle cell, while in other parts of the world it is non-existant (because it is only a hinderence, there is no benifit for Eskimos to be resistant to maleria, if they have to trade that for a small risk of having Sickle Cell Disease.)
I hope that this is somewhat organized into rational thought, as I am quite a bit loopy from meds tonight, and also tired, but it does make sence, even if I boggled it up trying to explain it.
Just some food for thought. It's not like this is going to make any of our pain go away.
But it is interesting to hypothesize about it.
Take care my friend
Daniel
Keep on keepin on Kicking some AS
