Amylase Copy Number and Diet

This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that investigated whether there is a correlation between a population’s diet and copies of a certain gene.

Many of the foods we eat contain starch, which is broken down by an enzyme called salivary amylase. This enzyme is encoded by a gene, AMY1, that can have 2 to 15 copies per person. In this study, scientists compared AMY1 copy numbers in populations with high- and low-starch diets (Panel A), and the cumulative proportions of individuals with different AMY1 copy numbers in the sampled populations (Panel B).

The “Educator Materials” document includes a captioned figure, background information, graph interpretation, and discussion questions. The “Student Handout” includes a captioned figure and background information.