Washington, Dec 8 (PTI) Scientists have discoveredgenetic variants linked to homosexuality by analysing theentire DNA codes of gay and heterosexual men.
They discovered that DNA was different for gay andstraight men around two genes: SLITRK5 and SLITRK6.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports,is the first to look at the complete genome of over 1,000homosexual men and compare it to genetic data from 1,231heterosexual males.
SLITRK6 is an important gene for brain development and isparticularly active in the brain region which includes thehypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is crucial for producing hormones linkedto control sex drive. Previous studies have shown that partsof it are up to 34 per cent larger in gay men.
Researchers from North Shore University Health System(NSUHS) in the US also discovered differences in the TSHRgene, which is linked to the thyroid, 'The Telegraph'reported.
"Because sexuality is an essential part of human life –for individuals and society – it is important to understandthe development and expression of human sexual orientation,"said Alan Sanders, from NSUHS.
"The goal of this study was to search for geneticunderpinnings of male sexual orientation, and thus ultimatelyincrease our knowledge of biological mechanisms underlyingsexual orientation," Sanders said.
However, experts suggest that the number of participantsin the study is too small to draw population-wide conclusions,and the findings are not statistically significant.
"Even if a gene variant does show some correlation withsexual orientation, this does not mean that the gene is in anyway responsible for being gay – it just means it has someassociation with a trait that is more likely to found in therelatively few people involved as subjects in the study," saidRobin Lovell-Badge from The Francis Crick Institute in the UK,who was not involved in the study. PTI MHN SARMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.