Why did humans (and apes) lose the ability to convert uric acid into something less benign?

Unlike most other animals, humans cannot convert uric acid into a more soluble compound.

Precipitated uric acid can cause a host of problems like gout and kidney stones.

What happened to our uricase?: a brief Tweetorial.

Fig. from https://t.co/nU9cZjXIQE #NephJC #NephTwitter pic.twitter.com/HABnvJtBAc
— Caitlyn Vlasschaert, MD MSc (@DrFlashHeart) June 28, 2020

And more in this tweetorial

💥 Uric Acid - A Brief Tweetorial

⚡️Why do humans get hyperuricemia whereas most other species do not?

⚡️Does Uric Acid have any function in humans?

⚡️How is Uric Acid eliminated from the body?

1/@NephJC #NephJC #Tweetorial
— Aisha Shaikh (@aishaikh) June 29, 2020

How can Mendelian Randomization help us in this area?

Experimental RCTs are not the only way to assess causality.

Mendelian randomization studies can also help distinguish causation (⇒) from correlation (∝).

👉 A short Tweetorial & walk-through of 2 MR studies that looked at whether urate ⇒ CKD.#NephJC
— Caitlyn Vlasschaert, MD MSc (@DrFlashHeart) June 30, 2020