Mutant gene, responsible for the heart disease among, ten of millions of people from the subcontinent has been isolated, according to a study.

The guilty gene, found in more than1.5 billion people only in South Asia, is definite to create heart trouble, usually in later life, the researchers said.

Scientists have already concluded that the India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and to some extend Bangladesh, have a giant share in the global burden of cardiovascular diseases. According to the previous study, India alone will account for sixty percent of global heart issues, due to genetics and lifestyle, at the end of this year.

“The gene mutation induces the synthesis of an abnormal protein,” said the lead researcher. These include elevated high blood pressure and weakening of the heart muscles called cardiomyopathy, and finally death due to sudden heart attack.

In two side by side clinical trials, researchers perform the tests to check the mutation in 800 cardiac patients and 699 healthy persons across India.

The relation between the genetic defect and heart disease “were almost off the scale,” and confirming that the gene mutation played a key part in causing heart problems.

These findings raise a shocking question: if the mutation in the specific gene is so dangerous, what is the cause of its widespread?

“The harmful effects of this are normally seen in old age, so the mutation is essentially invisible to natural selection,” explained co-author Chris Tyler-Smith. There are many diseases that hit in old age but very few of them are caused only a single mutant gene.

“Another example is Alzheimer’s, where there is a variant that affects the very late-onset form of the disease,” Tyler-Smith said.