People walk on the foot of the Mount Kangrinboqe in Burang County of Ngari Prefecture, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 25, 2018. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese researchers have released results of the biggest ever study into the Chinese population's gene pool, revealing that Chinese people's genes are very different from those of people in Africa and that Tibetan people can drink the most alcohol compared to other ethnicities in China.

According to the study, the Chinese population showed large differences in genetic characteristics to European, African, South Asian, Admixed American and Latino ancestries.

African ancestry and the Chinese population showed the largest genetic differences, while the genetic structures of Chinese, Japanese and Kinh Vietnamese populations of East Asian ancestry, are very similar.

The Chinese Han population could be mainly divided into seven geographical clusters, including North Han in Beijing, Tianjin, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Shanxi; Southeast Han in Fujian; as well as Lingnan Han in Guangdong and Guangxi, according to the study.

The study showed that the Chinese population generally had a markedly lower tolerance level to alcohol compared to European and African ancestries.

The populations from the North have a stronger alcohol metabolism than those from the South in China; individuals from ethnic minorities Tibetan, Mongolian and Yi are top ranked in the field, while those from Lingnan Han and Southeast Han ranked bottom.

The study is based on gene information analysis of genome sequencing data and the genetic bases of metabolic traits in 10,588 individuals from eight ethnic populations (Han, Hui, Manchu, Miao, Mongolian, Yi, Tibetan and Zhuang) across 27 provinces of China without biased selection or filtration.

It was conducted by Shanghai Clinical Center for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases in Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. It was released by the monthly journal Cell Research jointly issued by the Shanghai institute of life sciences, Chinese academy of sciences, and Nature magazine.

It is part of the China Metabolic Analytics Project, a population-based human genetics study in China for precision medicine leading to prevention and treatment of noninfectious chronic diseases.

Global Times