Fig. 2. Nutritional availability may be a factor in shaping GHRd3 allele frequency.

(A) A plausible model for the evolution of GHRd3. From bottom to top, we indicated GHRd3 allele frequency across time where yellow depicts deleted allele and red depicts nondeleted allele. Next, we show the phylogenetic relationships between extant and archaic humans with the allele frequencies shown with the pie charts at the branch tips. The timeline for ecological variability and the onset of modern human behavior was shown at the top of this panel. LGM, Last Glacial Maximum; Ma ago, million years ago. (B) The association between GHRd3 and edematous severe acute malnutrition (ESAM). GHRd3 is significantly enriched in nonedematous SAM (NESAM) as compared to ESAM, indicating that GHRd3 may provide protection against developing the classically more severe form of acute malnutrition. The graph shows the proportion of nondeleted, heterozygous, and homozygous GHRd3 genotypes in each category. The sample size of each category is indicated on the top of the chart.