The new statistical analysis revealed five points in our chromosomes, called loci, which appear closely linked to sexuality, though each individually has a ‘very small’ influence
Like size or intelligence, sexual attraction isn’t defined by one gene alone, but is instead the result of the complex interplay between multiple regions of the genome and hard to pin environmental factors. That’s the conclusion of an analysis conducted on half a million DNA profiles as part of a giant study by researchers in Europe and the United States published in the influential journal Science on Thursday.
Its authors hope to bury the notion, popularised in the 1990s, of the existence of an all powerful “gay gene” that determines sexuality in the way eye colour is defined. “We… found that it’s effectively impossible to predict an individual’s sexual behaviour from their genome,” said Ben Neale, a member of MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute, one of several organisations involved in the work.
Sexual orientation does have a genetic component, say the researchers, confirming previous smaller studies, notably on twins. But the effect is mediated by a myriad of genes. “There is no single gay gene but rather the contribution of many small genetic effects scattered across the genome,” said Neale. Added to this are environmental factors: how a person is raised in childhood, where they live as an adult etc.
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