Study: No gene associated with being gay

Rainbow flag at a gay pride paradeImage copyright GETTY IMAGES

A genetic analysis of almost half a million people has concluded there is no single โ€œgay geneโ€.

The study, published in Science, used data from the UK Biobank and 23andMe, and found some genetic variants associated with same-sex relationships.

But genetic factors accounted for, at most, 25% of same-sex behaviour.

Advocacy group GLAAD said the study confirmed โ€œno conclusive degree to which nature or nurture influenced how a gay or lesbian person behaves.โ€

The researchers scanned the genomes โ€“ the entire genetic make-up โ€“ of 409,000 people signed up to the UK Biobank project, and 68,500 registered with the genetics company 23andMe.

Participants were also asked whether they had same-sex partners exclusively, or as well as opposite-sex partners.

The Harvard and MIT researchers concluded genetics could account for between 8-25% of same-sex behaviour across the population, when the whole genome is considered.

Five specific genetic variants were found to be particularly associated with same-sex behaviour, including one linked to the biological pathway for smell, and others to those for sex hormones.

But together they only accounted for under 1% of same-sex behaviour.

โ€˜Impossible to predictโ€™

Ben Neale, an associate professor in the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, who worked on the study, said: โ€œGenetics is less than half of this story for sexual behaviour, but itโ€™s still a very important contributing factor.

โ€œThere is no single gay gene, and a genetic test for if youโ€™re going to have a same-sex relationship is not going to work.

โ€œItโ€™s effectively impossible to predict an individualโ€™s sexual behaviour from their genome.โ€

Fah Sathirapongsasuti, senior scientist at 23andMe, added; โ€œThis is a natural and normal part of the variation in our species and that should also support precisely the position that we shouldnโ€™t try and develop gay โ€˜curismโ€™. Thatโ€™s not in anyoneโ€™s interest.โ€

David Curtis, honorary professor at the UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, said: โ€œThis study clearly shows that there is no such thing as a โ€˜gay geneโ€™.

โ€œThere is no genetic variant in the population which has any substantial effect on sexual orientation.

โ€œRather, what we see is that there are very large numbers of variants which have extremely modest associations.

โ€œEven if homosexuality is not genetically determined, as this study shows, that does not mean that it is not in some way an innate and indispensable part of an individualโ€™s personality.โ€

Zeke Stokes, from the LGBT media advocacy organisation GLAAD, said: โ€œThis new research re-confirms the long-established understanding that there is no conclusive degree to which nature or nurture influence how a gay or lesbian person behaves.โ€

Read more at www.bbc.co.uk


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