Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2019 May 14:8:e47523.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.47523.

Of starch and spit

Mareike C Janiak  1
Affiliations
Comment

Of starch and spit

Mareike C Janiak. Elife. .

Abstract

Animals living alongside humans have multiple copies of the gene for alpha-amylase, the enzyme that breaks down starchy foods, and high levels of this protein in their saliva.

Keywords: adaptation; amylase; commensalism; evolution; evolutionary biology; genetics; genomics; human; mouse; rat; rhesus macaque; saliva; starch.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

MJ No competing interests declared

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Links between proximity to humans, amylase gene copy number and amylase activity.
Animals that live alongside humans have diets that are different to those of their wild relatives, and these differences have led to dietary adaptations. While wolves (A) are highly carnivorous, dogs (B) have adapted to eating starchy human food scraps. (C) Pajic et al. found that species that consume medium or high amounts of starch have higher amylase activity in their saliva (maroon line) and more amylase gene copies (blue line) than species that consume little or no starch.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Axelsson E, Ratnakumar A, Arendt ML, Maqbool K, Webster MT, Perloski M, Liberg O, Arnemo JM, Hedhammar A, Lindblad-Toh K. The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet. Nature. 2013;495:360–364. doi: 10.1038/nature11837. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carpenter D, Mitchell LM, Armour JA. Copy number variation of human AMY1 is a minor contributor to variation in salivary amylase expression and activity. Human Genomics. 2017;11:2. doi: 10.1186/s40246-017-0097-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hardy K, Brand-Miller J, Brown KD, Thomas MG, Copeland L. The importance of dietary carbohydrate in human evolution. The Quarterly Review of Biology. 2015;90:251–268. doi: 10.1086/682587. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Inchley CE, Larbey CD, Shwan NA, Pagani L, Saag L, Antão T, Jacobs G, Hudjashov G, Metspalu E, Mitt M, Eichstaedt CA, Malyarchuk B, Derenko M, Wee J, Abdullah S, Ricaut FX, Mormina M, Mägi R, Villems R, Metspalu M, Jones MK, Armour JA, Kivisild T. Selective sweep on human amylase genes postdates the split with Neanderthals. Scientific Reports. 2016;6:37198. doi: 10.1038/srep37198. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Janiak MC. Digestive enzymes of human and nonhuman primates. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews. 2016;25:253–266. doi: 10.1002/evan.21498. - DOI - PubMed