Smoke Tolerance Key to Humans Outlasting Neanderthals

Scientists claim to have found a unique genetic mutation that allowed humans to adapt to smoke exposure from fires. As well as affording modern humans a genetic advantage over Neanderthals, the mutation could have led people to take up a deadly habit: smoking.

The mutation, identified by researchers from Penn State University, is found solely in modern humans. The findings of lead author Gary Perdew and his colleagues are published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

A difference in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which regulates the body’s response to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, may have desensitised humans to the toxic spew of chemicals generated by smoke and fire, according to the authors. This desensitisation would have given humans an advantage compared to other hominids when it came to processing the toxins.