In the course of this work, the genomes of thousands of Icelanders were compared. So, according to the researchers, a mutation in the ASGR1 gene reduces the likelihood of developing heart disease by 34%.
It is noted that the specialists managed to completely decipher the genome of 2,600 people, while all the inhabitants of Iceland were tested for the presence of the ASGR1 mutation – this is more than 300 thousand people. As it turned out, this feature is present in 1 out of 120 inhabitants of the island. It is these people who have low levels of high-density lipoprotein.
At the moment, the mechanism of this gene is unknown, but it is obvious that it deactivates a number of proteins responsible for the processing of proteins with sugar residues.