Adaptations to water stress and pastoralism in the Turkana of northwest Kenya

Abstract

The Turkana people inhabit arid regions of east Africa--where temperatures are high and water is scarce--and they practice subsistence pastoralism, such that their diet is primarily composed of animal products. Working with Turkana communities, we sequenced 367 genomes and identified 8 regions putatively involved in adaptation to water stress and pastoralism. One of these regions includes a putative enhancer for STC1--a kidney-expressed gene involved in the response to dehydration and the metabolism of purine-rich foods such as red meat. We show that STC1 is induced by antidiuretic hormone in humans, is associated with urea levels in the Turkana themselves, and is under strong selection in this population (s[~]0.041). This work highlights that partnerships with subsistence-level groups can lead to new models of human physiology with biomedical relevance.