UCLA和宾夕法尼亚大学布法罗分校的研究人员发现，秘鲁安第斯土著人在淀粉消化基因AMY1的拷贝数上远超其他人群，这为饮食如何塑造人类进化提供了有力证据[1]。研究表明，秘鲁土著人平均携带10个AMY1基因拷贝，比其他83个被检查的人群多约2-4个，而同样来自美洲的玛雅人平均仅携带6个拷贝[1]。
研究人员指出，自然选择在土豆成为安第斯高地主食后开始发挥作用[1]。他们估计从约10000年前起，携带10个或更多AMY1拷贝的人群每代获得约1.24%的生存或生殖优势[1]。这一优势选择过程持续了数千年，使得高拷贝数基因在欧洲接触美洲前就已在安第斯地区变得更加普遍[1]。该研究已发表于《自然通讯》期刊，并得到美国国家科学基金会、美国国立卫生研究院和利基基金会的资助[1]。
Researchers from UCLA and the University at Buffalo have identified a striking evolutionary adaptation in Indigenous Andean populations linked to their ancestral reliance on potatoes. The study, published in Nature Communications in 2026, reveals that Peruvian Indigenous people carry the highest known number of copies of the AMY1 gene, which encodes starch-digesting enzymes, averaging approximately 10 copies compared to 2–4 copies in other studied populations [1]. This genetic difference appears to reflect natural selection favoring individuals better equipped to digest the staple crop that became central to Andean highland diets roughly 6,000 to 10,000 years ago [1].
The research demonstrates that individuals carrying 10 or more AMY1 copies enjoyed a survival or reproductive advantage of approximately 1.24 percent per generation beginning around 10,000 years ago [1]. High copy numbers of this gene became more prevalent across the Andean region thousands of years before European contact, indicating that dietary pressures from potato cultivation shaped human genetics over millennia [1]. By comparison, Maya populations in Mexico averaged 6 AMY1 copies [1]. The findings, supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Leakey Foundation, provide compelling evidence that diet can drive human evolutionary change [1].