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A group of women on South Korea ’s largest island , Jeju , follow a unique custom to put food on the mesa : They freedive to depths of nearly 33 feet ( 10 meters ) without using any special equipment .
Now , a new subject field reveals that these woman post distinct genes not found in South Koreans living on the mainland . These factor may be linked to the women ’s abilities to stand firm frigid pee and lower their ancestry press while diving , the scientists wrote in a bailiwick publish Friday ( May 2 ) in the journalCell written report .
Jeju women divers have been foraging for seafood by freediving for generations.
Jeju Haenyeo — which render to " women of the sea " — start diving for seafood at around the age of 15 , forgather abalone , sea urchins and octopuses . harmonize to UNESCO , extremity of the group harvest for up to seven hours a day for about 90 days of the year . They continue the practice well into their 80s , not even carry a break when meaning .
" It ’s incredible,“Melissa Ilardo , study writer and geneticist at the University of Utah , told Live Science . " It ’s not just that they ’re doing this in onetime eld , but how athletically they ’re doing it is just mind blowing . "
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A woman diver from Jeju Island carries seafood harvested from a dive.
Ilardo antecedently studiedanother populationof mass who freedive for seafood : the Bajau people , or " sea nomad , " in Indonesia . The difference is , off the tropic island of Indonesia , the body of water is warm — around 80 degrees Fahrenheit ( 26.7 degrees Celsius ) — while thewater off Jejucan get below 55 F ( 12.8 ° C ) . That’scold enough to cause hypothermia .
But Jeju Haenyeo " will plunk no matter the temperature , " Ilardo said , descend up to 10 one thousand , typically for about 30 second at a time , agree to the paper .
To investigate the mystery behind the group ’s stale water leeway and dive stamina , Ilardo and her team equate the genetics of 30 Jeju Haenyeo to that of 30 distaff non - divers from Jeju and 31 others from mainland South Korea .
Jeju Haenyeo continue to dive well into their 80s, and even during pregnancy.
Both Haenyeo and non - frogman from Jeju shared the same genetic makeup , which was markedly dissimilar from their mainland cousins . This is likely due to those on the island having nearly shared lineage , the researchers evoke .
Compared to mainlanders , multitude from Jeju were far more likely to hold a discrete form of a gene for sarcoglycan zeta , a protein tie to frigid sensitivity . The protein is find insmooth muscles , which enable involuntary movements , like those involve in blood circulation . Research has indicate that it influencespain from coldness , as one would feel when steep a hand in glass water system . The variation in this gene may assist explain the freedivers ' insensate water tolerance , Ilardo suggested .
About one - third of the women from Jeju — divers and non - diver likewise — carry a gene variant that codes for a protein call Fcγ sense organ IIA . By comparison , only 7 % of the woman from the mainland carried this variant .
Evidence suggests this protein helps govern how muscle in the lining ofblood vas respond to inflammation . If the variant helps restrain inflammatory outcome in blood watercraft , the scientists theorized , it may get down diastolic ancestry pressure . ( Blood pressure level isgenerally measure with a ratioof systolic line of descent air pressure , which measures the press in the arteriesduringheart beat , to diastolic blood atmospheric pressure , the pressurebetweenbeats . )
The researcher explored this idea with a imitation dive . They asked each participant to hold their breather while submerging their face into a bowl of cold water , which triggersthe diving inborn reflex . " Your body responds as if you ’re diving , and that ’s because the nerve that really triggers the dive response is in your cheek , " Ilardo said . This reflex prompts the soundbox to conserve atomic number 8 by slowing sum rate and constricting profligate vessels , helping provide vital pipe organ with an adequate blood supply , she tally .
In general , the participants from Jeju had higher overall bloodline insistency than did the mainland participant , and during the imitation dive , both groups experienced higher diastolic rakehell pressure than their baseline . However , the researchers found that the presence of the Fcγ sensory receptor IIA gene random variable is tied to significantly abject diastolic blood force per unit area in the Jeju participants during diving .
This cistron variant may help protect Jeju Haenyeo from complications associated with diving - induced high blood pressure , or mellow blood press , which could be peculiarly harmful in pregnancy , the team suggested . These surmise are yet to be confirm , though .
" The frequency of both genetic variants is the same across all Jeju Islanders , " Ilardo note . " Essentially , it seems like everyone from Jeju is equally likely to have descended from divers . Or in other discussion , you ’re either an alive diver , or a descendant of a diver . "
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Tatum Simonson , a geneticist and physiologist at the University of California , San Diego Health who was not involved in the study , thought connect the Haenyeo ’s physiology to their genetic science was really worthful to understanding how masses reply to hypoxia , or grim O tier . Simonson read the genetic science and physiology of people who dwell in high - altitude areas , where the atmospheric oxygen levels are lower than at sea level .
" It could be that some of the same genetic variants are found in other groups , " she said , " and so , that could be important in terms of look at how people answer to the focus of hypoxia . "
Various aesculapian condition , admit heart and lung diseases , can alsopush the consistence into a hypoxic country , Simonson add up . broadly speaking studying the genetic underpinnings of how the body adapts to low - oxygen berth could potentially help scientist understand how the consistency responds in these disease states .
Some of the remainder seen in the divers and non - divers might come down to preparation , rather than genetic science , Ilardo add . In addition to seeing the divers ' ancestry pressure fall , their heart rates were also affected by diving . The heart rate of one diver dropped more than 40 meter per second in just 15 bit during a diving — an event not seen in the other , non - diving populations .
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This power seems to be the result of a lifetime of training , instead of genetic , Ilardo say . The psychoanalysis did n’t reveal a particular cistron tied to the ability , and what ’s more , the loon and non - loon from Jeju register dramatic differences , despite sharing much of their genetical war paint .
Our body answer to uttermost environment either through evolutionary adaptation , which take place over generation , or through acclimatisation , which takes place within a lifespan , Cara Ocobock , a human life scientist and anthropologist at the University of Notre Dame assure Live Science .
" Even if you have a group of people who have generationally been doing this diving event for a long period of time , you ’re going to see case-by-case differences in how each person responds , " said Ocobock , who was not involved in the Modern piece of work . She studies how caribou herder in Finland cope with cold temperatures .
Understanding the ways different population both adapt and acclimatize to extreme conditions could potentially help point to strategies to help multitude manage with conditions thatclimate changemight trigger , Ocobock allege . " This is the kind of work that we really need to be doing . "
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