Lactase Persistence Variants as Markers to Study Human Demographic Movements in the Light of Animal Domestication and Milk Culture

Persistence or non-persistence of lactase expression into adult life is a polymorphic trait that has been attributed to a single nucleotide polymorphism (-13910 C>T) in an enhancer element 13.9 kb upstream of the lactase gene (LCT). Recent studies have demonstrated that lactase persistence (LP) variants -13910*T and -13915*G have emerged from different allelic backgrounds and occur at very high frequencies in different populations. Iranian and Arabian populations have been reported to differ significantly in genetic patterns at these LP variants. The Arabian population is characterized by a 50-60 percent frequency of a -13915*G allele, attributable to its consumption of camel milk. This allele has not been detected so far among the Iranian population which, on the contrary, is similar to the European and Near Eastern populations showing a moderate frequency of -13910*T allele, which occurs at a significantly lower frequency in Arabia. In this background, we intended to determine the putative gene...