Diet And Evolution Of Salivary Amylase

Evolution of salivary amylase and its enzymatic activity goals for this exercise.

Diet and evolution of salivary amylase. Isabella chen ap bio section 9 diet and the evolution of salivary amylase questions 1. The co evolution of genes and culture diet and the evolution of salivary amylase in humans salivaryα amylase is produced by the amy1 gene on chromosome 1. Maltose which works in the small intestines breaks down maltose into glucose. The diet and the evolution of salivary amylase activity has two parts a and b that each focus on a different published data set.

Amylase and human evolution. Learn how to examine enzyme activity and study how changing temperature can affect enzyme activity. Prominent component of the human diet particularly among agricultural societies8. Activity student handout diet and the evolution of salivary amylase in humans the amy1 gene on chromosome 1 produces salivary amylase.

Examine the enzymatic activity of amylase in the saliva of each student using a starch iodine test. Salivary amylase pancreatic amylase and maltase break down covalent bonds in the consumed food. However genetic studies show that people can have anywhere from two to 15 diploid copies of. There is evidence for co evolution of dietary habits and salivary proteins.

The binding of some injurious chemicals to proteins has been reported. It stands to reason therefore that studies of the evolution of amylase in humans and our close primate relatives may provide insight into our ecological history. This activity engages students in analyzing authentic scientific data that explore the effects of different diets on the evolution of an enzyme that breaks down starch. If drift explains the correlation of copy number with diet then one would not expect the copy number for pancreatic and salivary amylase both to correlate with diet.

Because the human salivary amylase gene amy1 shows extensive variation in copy. Salivary amylase works in the mouth while pancreatic acid works in the pancreas. Humans are diploid organisms meaning that except for the genes on the x and y chromosomes they have two copies of most genes one copy inherited from each parent. Examine how diet and.

The first task students encounter in part a is to analyze data on amy1 copy numbers and amylase production table 1. Learn how to use mean standard deviation to compare the amylase activity between students. We found that copy number of the salivary amylase gene amy1 is correlated positively with salivary amylase protein level and that individuals from populations with high starch diets have on average more amy1 copies than those with traditionally low. Humans are diploid organisms meaning that they generally have two copies of genes that are not present on the x and y chromosomes one copy inherited from each parent.