Two gene variants have been found to be more mon gay men. New Scientist looks at what this tells about the way blogy shap our sexualy
Contents:
- SCIENTISTS QUASH IA OF SGLE 'GAY GENE'
- THE REAL STORY ON GAY GEN
- THE LIFE OF THE GAY GENE: OM HYPOTHETIL GEIC MARKER TO SOCIAL REALY
- SEARCH FOR 'GAY GEN' COM UP SHORT IN LARGE NEW STUDY
- NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
- THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
- WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
SCIENTISTS QUASH IA OF SGLE 'GAY GENE'
The gay gene was first intified 1993 as a rrelatn between the geic marker Xq28 and gay male sexualy. The rults of this origal study were never replited, and the blogil realy of such an enty remas hypothetil. However, spe such tenuo provenance, the gay gene has p … * who discovered the gay gene *
Humans have tried to unrstand human sexualy for centuri — and geics rearchers joed the ay the early 1990s after a seri of studi on tws suggted homosexualy ran fai.
THE REAL STORY ON GAY GEN
“As a teenager tryg to unrstand myself and unrstand my sexualy, I looked at the ter for “the gay gene” and obvly me across Xq28,” said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a study -thor and senr scientist at 23andMe, which he joked once led him to believe he hered his gayns om his mother.
The rearchers had members of the same-sex muny review the study’s sign and language, and they adm that their termology and fns for gay, lbian and heterosexual do not reflect the full nature of the sexualy ntuum.
THE LIFE OF THE GAY GENE: OM HYPOTHETIL GEIC MARKER TO SOCIAL REALY
“[Our study] unrsr an important role for the environment shapg human sexual behavr and perhaps most importantly there is no sgle gay gene but rather the ntributn of many small geic effects sttered across the genome,” Neale said.
A vast new study has quashed the ia that a sgle “gay gene” exists, scientists say, stead fdg homosexual behavur is fluenced by a multu of geic variants which each have a ty rearchers pare the suatn to factors termg a person’s height, which multiple geic and environmental factors play rol.
SEARCH FOR 'GAY GEN' COM UP SHORT IN LARGE NEW STUDY
“The rults suggt we shouldn’t be measurg sexual preference on a sgle ntuum om straight to gay, but rather two separate dimensns: attractn to the same sex and attractn to the oppose sex. It also relied on self-reported ia that geics might play a role same-sex attractn was propelled to the spotlight 1993 when Dean Hamer, a scientist at the US Natnal Cancer Instute, and his team found lks between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual fdgs ed nsirable ntroversy, wh the media dubbg the disvery the “gay gene”. Still others, backg the same e, disurage any vtigatn to the blogil origs of sexual orientatn, fearful that posive rults will lead to attempts to rid the world of potential homosexuals.
NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
For them, the disvery of how an dividual be gay is likely to shed light on how sexualy-related gen build bras, how people of any persuasn are attracted to each other, and perhaps even how homosexualy evolved. Hamer had jt published a study that claimed not only to have fally proved that male homosexualy was at least partially geic but also to have ppoted the stretch of chromosome where one of the gen volved rid.
Hamer and his lleagu nducted extensive terviews wh 76 pairs of gay brothers and their fay members and found that homosexualy seemed to be hered through the maternal le.
THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
For a long perd NIH grant proposals that clud words like “gay, ” “ndom, ” or even “sexualy” were turned down, much to the ire of rearchers like Hamer. Yet Hamer ntends that his rults suggt there is a lk to Xq28 and that the Rice study was biased bee one of the thors told Hamer that he didn’t believe a gay gene uld exist.
WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
Whether or not a gay gene, a set of gay gen, or some other blogil mechanism is ever found, one thg is clear: The environment a child grows up has nothg to do wh what mak most gay men gay.
Ially, Bocklandt would sn the genome of each dividual, lookg for a methylatn pattern anywhere on any chromosome that shows up repeatedly the gay member of each tw pair. Alan Sanrs, an associate profsor of psychiatry at Northwtern, will be lookg at the whole genome of about 1, 000 gay brothers g the geic marker technique that Hamer ed. By settg up a stand at Gay Pri paras and approachg “gay iendly” groups like PFLAG (Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays), Sanrs has found more than 4, 000 gay men wh a brother who are terted participatg.
Even if social prsur through the ag led some gay men to have some children, the signifintly lower rate of reproductn would eventually lead to the disappearance of the gene (as Hamer do note his book, The Science of Dire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Blogy of Behavr). ) The creased number of grandchildren that a parent might have through such a superfertile dghter would offset whatever loss of geic postery om havg a gay son.