What if someone tells you that possessing diverse genes could improve your chances of combating infections and even fighting off cancer? The divergent allele advantage hypothesis tries to explain this phenomenon. It states that possessing a greater variety of certain genes (alleles are variants of a gene) can improve individual survival. That would be just another derivation of the phrase “strength lies in differences, not in similarity”.
Read more on my contribution at Evo Bites to know how having diversity in particular genes can protect you from cancer, or improve your chances to have a successful treatment.