[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40652-en":3,"doc-seo-40652-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},40652,1099514067415,"Rowan","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002539d78ffe74a7?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779092875211072502",7,"Healthcare","Physiological and Genetic Adaptations to Diving in Sea Nomads","Physiology and genetics of human hypoxia tolerance are crucial for medical understanding, yet historically studied mainly in high-altitude populations. This article examines humans who practice breath-hold diving, focusing on the indigenous Bajau (“Sea Nomads”) whose exceptional breathholding has an unclear genetic basis. A comparative genomic analysis finds selection affecting PDE10A, increasing Bajau spleen size and enlarging the oxygenated red blood cell reservoir, and identifies additional diving-related selected traits including BDKRB2.","Article  \nPhysiological and Genetic Adaptations to Diving in Sea Nomads  \nGraphical Abstract  \nHighlights  \nd The Bajau, or ‘‘Sea Nomads,’’ have engaged in breath-hold diving for thousands of years  \nAuthors  \nMelissa A. Ilardo, Ida Moltke, Thorfinn S. Korneliussen, ..., Suhartini Salingkat, Rasmus Nielsen, Eske Willerslev  \nCorrespondence  \n[rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu](rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu) (R.N.),  \n[ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk](ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk) (E.W.)  \nIn Brief  \nGenetic and physiological adaptations enable the remarkable breath-holding ability of marine nomads.  \nd Selection has increased Bajau spleen size, providing an oxygen reservoir for diving  \nd We find evidence of additional diving-related phenotypes under selection  \nd These findings have implications for hypoxia research, a pertinent medical issue  \nIlardo et al., 2018, Cell 173, 569–580 April 19, 2018 ª 2018 Elsevier Inc.  \n[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054)  \nArticle  \nPhysiological and Genetic Adaptations to Diving in Sea Nomads  \nMelissa A. Ilardo,1 Ida Moltke,2 Thorfinn S. Korneliussen,1,3 Jade Cheng,4 Aaron J. Stern,4,5 Fernando Racimo,1 Peter de Barros Damgaard,1 Martin Sikora,1 Andaine Seguin-Orlando,1,6 Simon Rasmussen,7  \nInge C.L. van den Munckhof,8 Rob ter Horst,8 Leo A.B. Joosten,8 Mihai G. Netea,8,9 Suhartini Salingkat,10 Rasmus Nielsen,1,4,12,* and Eske Willerslev1,3,11,*  \n1Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1350, Denmark  \n2Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 2200, Denmark  \n3Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK  \n4Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA  \n5Department of Computational Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA  \n6Danish National High-throughput DNA Sequencing Centre, University of Copenhagen 1353, Denmark  \n7Bioinformatics, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby 2800, Denmark  \n8Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen 6525, the Netherlands  \n9Department for Genomics and Immunoregulation, Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), University of Bonn, Bonn 53115, Germany  \n10Tompotika Luwuk Banggai, Tompotika University, Luwuk 94711, Indonesia  \n11Wellcome Trust, Sanger Institute, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK  \n12Lead Contact  \n*Correspondence: [rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu](rasmus_nielsen@berkeley.edu) (R.N.), [ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk](ewillerslev@snm.ku.dk) (E.W.) [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054)  \nSUMMARY  \nUnderstanding the physiology and genetics of human hypoxia tolerance has important medical implications, but this phenomenon has thus far only been investigated in high-altitude human populations. Another system, yet to be explored, is humans who engage in breath-hold diving. The indigenous Bajau people (‘‘Sea Nomads’’) of Southeast Asia live a subsistence lifestyle based on breath-hold diving and are renowned for their extraordinary breathholding abilities. However, it is unknown whether this has a genetic basis. Using a comparative genomic study, we show that natural selection on genetic variants in the PDE10A gene have increased spleen size in the Bajau, providing them with a larger reservoir of oxygenated red blood cells. We also find evidence of strong selection specific to the Bajau on BDKRB2, agene affecting the human diving reflex. Thus, the Bajau, and possibly other diving populations, provide a new opportunity to study human adaptation to hypoxia tolerance.  \nINTRODUCTION  \nHumans are the only mammals to have colonized all of Earth’s most extreme environments, from high altitude mountain chains to the remote islands of the Pacific. Human phenotypic adaptations to extreme environments have been the subject of much research (Beall, 2006; Yi et al., 2010), in part beca","cbCaimN1NNvKXpb6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimN1NNvKXpb6","pdf",6333280,1,28,"English","en",105,"# Summary\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What biological ability does the article focus on in the Bajau (“Sea Nomads”)?\",\"answer\":\"The study focuses on breath-hold diving and the extraordinary breathholding ability of the Bajau.\"},{\"question\":\"Which gene variant is associated with increased spleen size in the Bajau?\",\"answer\":\"Natural selection on genetic variants in the PDE10A gene is linked to increased Bajau spleen size.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the findings relate to medical hypoxia research?\",\"answer\":\"The results suggest Bajau and other diving populations provide a new opportunity to study human adaptation to hypoxia tolerance, with implications for medically relevant hypoxia research.\"}]",1783313754,71,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":27},"physiological-and-genetic-adaptations-to-diving-in-sea-nomads","",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/physiological-and-genetic-adaptations-to-diving-in-sea-nomads/40652/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-08","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What biological ability does the article focus on in the Bajau (“Sea Nomads”)?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The study focuses on breath-hold diving and the extraordinary breathholding ability of the Bajau.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"Which gene variant is associated with increased spleen size in the Bajau?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Natural selection on genetic variants in the PDE10A gene is linked to increased Bajau spleen size.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"How do the findings relate to medical hypoxia research?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The results suggest Bajau and other diving populations provide a new opportunity to study human adaptation to hypoxia tolerance, with implications for medically relevant hypoxia research.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]