How the Potato May Have Shaped Human Evolution in the Andes
A new study highlights how the domestication of the potato in the Andes may have left a permanent imprint on human genetics. Indigenous populations in Peru and surrounding regions carry exceptionally high copy numbers of a gene associated with starch digestion—suggesting that individuals with more copies of this gene held a significant nutritional advantage once the potato became a staple food.
The genetic shift appears to have begun thousands of years before European contact, making this a relatively clear case of diet driving evolutionary change in humans. When a food becomes central to survival and reproduction, individuals better equipped to extract nutrients from it gain a reproductive edge—a mechanism that, over many generations, can spread advantageous gene variants throughout a population.
The findings add to a broader understanding of how human genetics adapt to local food sources. Similar patterns have been observed in other populations with high-starch diets, but the Andean case offers particularly strong evidence due to the timing and the crop's central role in the region's agriculture. This research underscores the interplay between cultural practices, such as farming, and the biological changes that can follow in their wake.