The onset date of rice agriculture predicts half the ADH1B gene variation

Evidence

The earlier rice agriculture started in a region, the higher the frequency of the booze-inhibiting variant of ADH1B in the populations now inhabiting those regions. Knowing the date at which rice agriculture began then allowed them to account for 50% of the variation in this gene’s frequencies in Asian populations, which is amazingly high given the uncertainty in archaeological dates and all the other factors at work on these populations over thousands of years. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 288

Bing Su and his colleagues have brought these findings together with archeological data on the origins of rice agriculture in East Asia—the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The earlier rice agriculture started in a region, the higher the frequency of the booze-inhibiting variant of ADH1B in the populations now inhabiting those regions. Knowing the date at which rice agriculture began then allowed them to account for 50% of the variation in this gene’s frequencies in Asian populations, which is amazingly high given the uncertainty in archaeological dates and all the other factors at work on these populations over thousands of years. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 289

Categorization

• XREF: Gene-culture coevolution claim here parallels the lactose-tolerance-dairying thread in the same chapter and Henrich’s broader domestication thesis. — connects to: Cultural evolution can create selection pressures stronger than natural ones — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 282; Adopting cheese technology can halt a population’s lactase gene evolution — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 295; Rice wine production selected for genes that make drinking unpleasant — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 290 (+2 more)
• CANDY: A strikingly clean quantitative tie: archaeology dates alone predict half the genetic variation in a trait across populations.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 288; Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 289

Broader Connections

• Rice wine production selected for genes that make drinking unpleasant #corroborates (0.85) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 290
• Starch-heavy diets selected for extra copies of the AMY1 gene #expands (0.80) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 309