Tsubasa Suzuki, a PhD student, received the Best Poster Presentation Award at the Joint Congress of PSJ-ASN-JSPA 2026
Photo (Center) Tsubasa Suzuki
Tsubasa Suzuki, a PhD student at the Graduate School of Science, received the Best Poster Presentation Award at the Joint Congress of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Primate Society of Japan, the 80th Annual Meeting of the Anthropological Society of Nippon, and the 88th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology (PSJ-ASN-JSPA 2026).
Poster Title:
“Jomon-type FADS1 haplotype correlates with reduced gene expression observed in hunter-gatherers”
Comments from Tsubasa
Archaeological studies suggest that the Jomon population primarily lived as hunter-gatherers. Previous population genetic studies have also reported that several hunter-gatherer populations, including those in Europe and the Arctic, exhibit reduced expression of FADS1, a gene involved in fatty acid metabolism, as part of their biological adaptation to their subsistence patterns.
However, because soft tissues from the Jomon people have not survived, it has remained unclear whether they were biologically adapted to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
To address this question, we developed an approach using lymphocytes and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from modern Japanese individuals to quantify gene expression specifically from genomic regions inherited from Jomon ancestry. Using this approach, we found that Jomon-derived genomic regions are associated with reduced FADS1 expression, a pattern also observed in other hunter-gatherer populations.
These findings suggest that the Jomon population may have been adapted to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle not only culturally, but also at the genomic level.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors, collaborators, and all of the participants who generously provided samples for this study.
関連リンク
Joint Congress of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Primate Society of Japan, the 80th Annual Meeting of the Anthropological Society of Nippon, and the 88th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology
