The Gene Mutation That Protects Against HIV Could Also Shorten Lives
4th June 2019
Known as the delta-32 mutation after the allele it resides in, the mutation is quite famous, according to study author Rasmus Nielsen, an evolutionary biologist at UC Berkeley. One reason, he says, is the evidence its geographic distribution provides of historic diseases in Europe; another is the fact that it makes those who have it either completely or partially immune to infection with the HIV virus; and the last, of course, is the fact that it was the mutation He Jiankui chose to tweak in Nana and Lulu.