Case Study No.

1 - Adapting to Life at High Elevations

Course Coordinator:

Mrs. Dayson John Araguas

Professor

SCI 402 - MODERN BIOLOGY

SUBMITTED BY:

Neil Patrick Galvan

ICE 1304

JUNE 2021
 Adapting to life entails the ability to thrive in challenging circumstances. Humans have the
potential to survive in any environment because of our intellect, which allows us to build tools to
help us survive. Animals and other organisms, on the other hand, adapt to their environment by
modifying the parts or functions of their bodies. People who live at high heights, for example,
are in this scenario.

¹Differences in barometric pressure cause inadequate oxygen in the air at high altitudes,
resulting in hypoxia (that is, reduced oxygen levels in the blood). People who can survive at
higher elevations have distinct ways of dealing with a lack of oxygen. Human skin color is an
adaptation as well, according to wikipedia: “The main explanation is that skin color adapts to
intense solar irradiation to provide partial protection from the UV fraction that causes damage
and consequently mutations in the DNA of the skin cells.” There's also the issue of body
functions adapting to changing weather conditions. Those in Russia, but not all of them, have the
ability to stay at negative degrees Celsius, whereas people in tropical places will perish if
exposed to negative degrees Celsius.

²Tibetans, Andeans, and others are among those who can acclimatize to high altitudes.
Because of the thin air, the Andeans increased the amount of oxygen carried by each red blood
cell. That is, they breathe at the same pace as those living at sea level, but Andeans are better at
delivering oxygen throughout their bodies than persons living at sea level." Andeans reduce the
effect of oxygen in each breath by having higher hemoglobin levels in their blood, according to
Beall. Tibetans deal with low oxygen levels in a variety of ways. They take more breaths per
minute than people who live at sea level, therefore they obtain more oxygen. Tibetans may also
have a biological adaptation that allows their blood vessels to dilate, allowing them to distribute
oxygen throughout their bodies more effectively than persons living at sea level. Tibetans may
also have a biological adaptation that allows their blood vessels to dilate, allowing them to
distribute oxygen throughout their bodies more effectively than persons living at sea level.

³People who live at high altitude have higher life expectancy than people who live at sea
level. Studies show that these people have minimal risk in heart disease and lung cancer
according to sciencedaily. This is further proven in a research entitle Effects of Living at Higher
Altitudes on Mortality: A Narrative Review posted at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov by Martin Burtscher in
2013, it’s says here that Observations from populations of the Andes indicate that both coronary
heart disease (CHD) and myocardial infarction are uncommon among residents at high altitude.
In a consecutive series of necropsies performed at about 14000 feet (∼ 4260 m) there was no case
of myocardial infarction or of even moderate coronary artery disease . It also stated the reason
why these people live longer; according to them, reductions in air pollution and an increase in
ultraviolet radiation are both factors that contribute to these people living longer. Another study
entitled Living the high life: high-altitude adaptation by Laura B Scheinfeldt1 and Sarah A
Tishkoff in 2010, suggest that a target of selection and associated with hemoglobin
concentrations in Tibetans, EGLN1 , was also identified as a candidate for involvement in
high-altitude adaptation in Andean populations. EPAS1, on the other hand, was only identified in
the Tibetan populations, and PPARA was not considered with the HIF pathway genes in the
Andean analysis, so it remains to be seen whether this gene is involved in high-altitude
adaptation in populations other than the Tibetans. Future research will look at sequence variation
in coding areas to see whether there are any protein-altering variations involved in high-altitude
physiology.

Furthermore, studies of gene expression variation will aid in the discovery of regulatory
variations (also known as expression quantitative trait loci, or eQTLs) that play a role in
high-altitude adaptation. The growing accessibility of next-generation sequencing and functional
assays will help both of these techniques. I'm not sure what the medical or scientific name is for
this, but it's the reason they live longer than individuals living at sea level.