There is no one gene for beg gay, and though gen seem to play a role termg sexual orientatn and same-sex behavr, ’s small, plex, and anythg but termistic. That’s the ncln of a paper by an ternatnal team of rearchers, -led by Benjam Neale of the Broad Instute of Harvard and MIT, published today the journal Science.
Contents:
- THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
- WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
- SEARCH FOR 'GAY GEN' COM UP SHORT IN LARGE NEW STUDY
- WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
- THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
- THE 'GAY GENE' IS A TOTAL MYTH, MASSIVE STUDY CONCLUS
- THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
- MANY GEN INFLUENCE SAME-SEX SEXUALY, NOT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’
THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
Why are people gay? Are they gay by choice or is beg gay geic? Are they born gay? Learn about the and reasons for beg gay. * gay is a gene *
There is no sgle gene rponsible for a person beg gay or a lbian. The study of nearly a half ln people clos the door on the bate around the existence of a so-lled “gay gene. In s stead, the report fds that human DNA nnot predict who is gay or heterosexual.
It is worth keepg md that this study only vers some typ of sexualy — gay, lbian and cis-straight — but don’t offer many sights to genr inty.
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. “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.
WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
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 * gay is a gene *
“We worried a lot about volunteer bias, ” said Bailey, whose rearch clus a wily publicized study on Xq28 and gay brothers om 2018.
SEARCH FOR 'GAY GEN' COM UP SHORT IN LARGE NEW STUDY
Sanrs llaborated wh Bailey on those earlier studi and said their work had always admted that there was no sgle “gay gene.
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. In other words, tri to judge if a person leans gay, straight or bisexual. “[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.
WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
2% of women and men, rpectively, intify as gay. Dpe the numbers, many people still nsir homosexual behavr to be an anomalo choice.
However, blogists have documented homosexual behavr more than 450 speci, argug that same-sex behavr is not an unnatural choice, and may fact play a val role wh populatns. The hunt for ‘gay gen’. The 2019 study is the latt a hunt for “gay gen” that began 1993, when Dean Hamer lked male homosexualy to a sectn of the X chromosome.
THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
As the ease and affordabily of genome sequencg creased, addnal gene ndidat have emerged wh potential lks to homosexual behavr. So-lled genome-wi associatn studi intified a gene lled SLITRK6, which is active a bra regn lled the diencephalon that differs size between people who are homosexual or heterosexual. Wh multiple gene ndidat beg lked to homosexualy, seemed highly unlikely that a sgle “gay” gene exists.
In rats, manipulatn of hormon durg pregnancy produc offsprg that exhib homosexual behavr.
THE 'GAY GENE' IS A TOTAL MYTH, MASSIVE STUDY CONCLUS
Why do homosexual behavr exist? Several hypoth have been advanced to expla how homosexualy n be beneficial perpetuatg faial gen. Gay uncl and nts, for example, are “helpers the nt” that help raise other fay members’ children to nurture the fay tree.
THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
Another ia suggts that homosexualy is a “tra-off tra.
MANY GEN INFLUENCE SAME-SEX SEXUALY, NOT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’
” For example, certa gen women help crease their fertily, but if the gen are exprsed a male, they predispose him toward homosexualy.
While there is no sgle “gay gene, ” there is overwhelmg evince of a blogil basis for sexual orientatn that is programmed to the bra before birth based on a mix of geics and prenatal ndns, none of which the fet choos. Do matter if there is a geic tenncy for beg gay? Those who nsir beg gay a disadvantage life (which still is, certa societi), might regard gay people differently if they knew that beg gay was an hered tra, rather than a nsequence of life events, such as a particular type of upbrgg, or mixg wh certa sorts of iends or even a liberate cisn.