Mutated strain can swim to the bottom of the ocean after developing ‘sea nomad genes’

The Bajau tribe of Indonesia have become the first known humans to genetically adapt to diving.

The tribe leads an extremely amphibious life and it has now been proven that they have the genetic makeup to do so.

The Bajau people have lived off the coast of Indonesia for more than 1,000 years and live in houseboats, spending much of their lives in the sea.

As expected, they are highly skilled when it comes to freediving and spear fishing, but also possess extraordinary lung capacities and strong swimming abilities.

Members of the tribe can dive up to 70 meters with just a set of weights and wooden goggles.

Melissa Ilardo from the University of Cambridge told the BBC: “They dive repeatedly for eight hours a day and spend about 60 percent of their time underwater.”

But it turns out it’s not just their skills that help them achieve this, but also a unique genetic mutation – known as the ‘sea nomad gene’ – that also aids in their diving ability. They have extra large spleens.

The tribe that evolved to stay underwater longer – BBC REELwww.youtube.com

The spleen activates when a body is submerged in water, highlighting its key role in the human diving response. The spleen contracts to inject oxygen-rich red blood cells into the circulation, which can increase the oxygen in a human’s blood by nine percent.

So it makes sense that by having a larger spleen, Bajau people have a genetic advantage in swimming underwater.

Dr. Ilardo said: “There isn’t much information about the human spleen in terms of physiology and genetics, but we know that deep-diving seals, such as the Weddell seal, have disproportionately large spleens.

“We believe that in the Bajau they have an adaptation that increases thyroid hormone levels and therefore increases their spleen size.

“It has been shown in mice that thyroid hormones and spleen size are linked. If you genetically alter mice to lack the thyroid hormone T4, their spleen size is drastically reduced, but this effect is actually reversible with an injection of T4.”

It is difficult to know exactly how long the Bajau people remain underwater, but some claim to have been underwater for as long as 13 minutes.

Unfortunately, their lifestyle is currently under threat.

Their nomadic lifestyle means they may struggle to gain citizenship, while commercial fishing has devastated their food supply.

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