What Is Uric Acid? Vital Friend Or Deadly Foe? » Uric Acid & Evolution
- Title
- Loss of urate oxidase activity in hominoids and its evolutionary implications.
- Author(s)
- Oda M, Satta Y, Takenaka O, Takahata N.
- Published
- Mol Biol Evol. 2002 May;19(5):640-53.
Investigation of the genetic changes that caused humans to evolve without urate oxidase. Our lack of oxidase, present in most other animals, prevents uric acid breakdown. This gives us several advantages, with the disadvantage that if the levels of uric acid rise too high, gout and other diseases will affect us.
uric-acid-evolution.pdf