Myles W. Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262028660
- eISBN:
- 9780262327190
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262028660.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The CCR5-Δ32 allele provides some of the most fascinating stories of the CCR5 gene. It became a focal point in the debate about allele frequencies and natural selection. Could those who are immune ...
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The CCR5-Δ32 allele provides some of the most fascinating stories of the CCR5 gene. It became a focal point in the debate about allele frequencies and natural selection. Could those who are immune to AIDS have ancestors who were immune to the bubonic plague, smallpox, or Staphylococcus infection? How can historians collaborate with population geneticists and demographers to provide a richer history of medicine and biology and a clearer picture of the forces of natural selection? A history of CCR5-Δ32 is informative because it typifies how molecular biologists, population geneticists, biomedical researchers, and evolutionary biologists study alleles and mutations and determine which ones are present in various human populations. They key question is: should those populations be understood as races?Less
The CCR5-Δ32 allele provides some of the most fascinating stories of the CCR5 gene. It became a focal point in the debate about allele frequencies and natural selection. Could those who are immune to AIDS have ancestors who were immune to the bubonic plague, smallpox, or Staphylococcus infection? How can historians collaborate with population geneticists and demographers to provide a richer history of medicine and biology and a clearer picture of the forces of natural selection? A history of CCR5-Δ32 is informative because it typifies how molecular biologists, population geneticists, biomedical researchers, and evolutionary biologists study alleles and mutations and determine which ones are present in various human populations. They key question is: should those populations be understood as races?
