As an undergrad I learned there was many research being done on identical twins where one had developed a disease such as cancer while the other was perfectly healthy. Scientists were studying the twins DNA to understand why this happened, their conclusion was epigenetics.
Surprisingly, the scientists in this article are kind of doing the same thing. Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) presented an abstract for one of their current projects at the American Society of Human Genetics 2015 Annual Meeting in Baltimore. According to the article, the researchers have developed an algorithm that can identify the nine regions of the human genome that are most relevant to determining the sexual orientation of males. They are looking specifically at the epigenetics information and how methylation patterns affect these regions. Their study consisted of 37 pairs of twins where one was homosexual while the other was heterosexual, and 10 pairs of twins where both were homosexual (as their control). The algorithm is called FuzzyForest, and it found the 9 regions of the DNA that the researchers are now looking into. Their next step is to understand how methylation patterns play a role in the identified regions to result in differences of sexual orientation. Also, they want to test a general population of males to see how the algorithm works with them. From the twins study, their results were of 70% accuracy which doesn't seem very promising but maybe with more tests and research there may be a way of determining if sexual orientation is actually due to our genes.
The article can be found here Article, and the abstract here https://ep70.eventpilotadmin.com/web/page.php?page=IntHtml&project=ASHG15&id=150123267.
I wonder why they only used male subjects. Also, do you think they would apply this algorithm to bisexual males and get the same result?
ReplyDeleteI think you need more than 37 pairs of twins to determine anything to accuracy, because you are just accounting for the nature aspect of it not the nurture. But using twin studies to research this is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteEpigenetics is a fascinating field of study and has been ongoing for many years now. It's amazing how the affects of environment, diet, and other external factors can have such a big influence on twins. My question is if they found regions of the genome that contribute to the sexuality of men why would one not exist for women as both men and women apply to choosing their sexuality. The one issue I do have and gets a little into ethics, is our society's need to justify sexuality. It shouldn't matter if you're heterosexual or homosexual but yet here we are trying to determine if it's something in the genes and then what we're going to try and alter these said genes or the section of genome? It just doesn't seem right to me......
ReplyDeleteFemale twins should be included in this study too, unless they wanted to see a difference between the genomes of men and women. But as Ashley said, they need to increase their population size if possible to improve accuracy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Debbie. I would be interested in seeing the study afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI think it is an interesting study, and though I do agree that they need to massively expand their population and include females, as well as some sets of twins in which both are hetero (they said their controls are both homosexual); I think it makes sense to explore the nature aspect. Though most discussion about homosexuality these days focuses on the 'ethics' of it because of people's religion, it is an interesting biological feature which appears in basically all organismal populations as the reproduction rate accelerates past a certain point and the population pyramid becomes too bottom heavy. This study could be reproduced in other organisms to similar effect, and still be interesting. If it is a genetic factor, understanding where on the genome it appears and what factors influence its appearance is still a fascinating thing.
ReplyDeleteIt would be especially interesting if orientation were determined differently in men and women. Though, I would guess they aren't.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they have studied this with siblings that aren't twins. I know a family where both sons are gay so i wonder if they have the so called "gene".
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