Potato Domestication Raised Amylase Copies

A Nature Communications study reports that Quechua people in the Andes carry far more copies of the salivary amylase gene than nearby groups (mean ~10 vs ~6 copies), and the authors argue natural selection increased copy number after potato domestication roughly 10,000 years ago. The finding implies human metabolic genes can adapt quickly to new staple crops. — Shows a concrete example of culture (crop domestication) driving rapid human genetic change, which matters for debates about diet, genetic determinism, and how quickly biology responds to cultural innovations.