The ability to consume alcohol arose much earlier than believed, perhaps as an adaptation that allowed our ancestors to eat rotting fruit without dying. The most ancient evidence of alcohol consumption in humans is from the early Neolithic (circa 10,000 BCE), and so it was thought that humans were unable to eat fermented foods before then. However, a new genetic study suggests the sequence of events is reversed-that the ability to digest etha-nol predated the practice of directed fermentation. Researchers led by Steven Bennerof the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution used ancestral primate DNA to resurrect versions of the first enzyme encountered in the digestive tract that catalyzes alcohol digestion. The team found that 10 million years ago a single mutation endowed the capability of alcohol digestion in the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas. At that time, these primate ancestors were beginning to move across land, and the researchers posit that an adaptation to digest fallen fruit could have provided a selective advantage. This research opens the door for studies of the hominin palate's evolution, the ethanol content of the fruits in primate diets, and the evolutionary biology of alcohol abuse.
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