Evolutionary processes, including mutation, migration and natural selection, have influenced the prevalence and distribution of various disorders in humans. However, despite a few well-known examples, such as the APOL1 variants — which have undergone positive genetic selection for their ability to confer resistance to Trypanosoma brucei infection but confer a higher risk of chronic kidney disease — little is known about the effects of evolutionary processes that have shaped genetic variation on kidney disease. An understanding of basic concepts in evolutionary genetics provides an opportunity to consider how findings from ancient and archaic genomes could inform our knowledge of evolution and provide insights into how population migration and genetic admixture have shaped the current distribution and landscape of human kidney-associated diseases. Differences in exposures to infectious agents, environmental toxins, dietary components and climate also have the potential to influence the evolutionary genetics of kidneys. Of note, selective pressure on loci associated with kidney disease is often from non-kidney diseases, and thus it is important to understand how the link between genome-wide selected loci and kidney disease occurs in relation to secondary nephropathies.

进化过程，包括突变、迁移和自然选择，影响了人类各种疾病的流行和分布。然而，尽管有一些众所周知的例子，例如APOL1变体——它们已经经历了正向遗传选择，因为它们能够赋予对布氏锥虫的抗性感染，但会增加患慢性肾病的风险——人们对影响遗传变异对肾病的进化过程的影响知之甚少。对进化遗传学基本概念的理解提供了一个机会，让我们有机会思考古代和古老基因组的发现如何为我们的进化知识提供信息，并提供对人口迁移和遗传混合如何塑造人类肾脏相关疾病的当前分布和格局的见解。接触传染源、环境毒素、饮食成分和气候的差异也有可能影响肾脏的进化遗传学。值得注意的是，与肾脏疾病相关的位点的选择性压力通常来自非肾脏疾病，