Gay DNA Found

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/012705dna.htm

In the first-ever study combing the entire human genome for genetic determinants of male sexual orientation, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher has identified several areas that appear to influence whether a man is straight or gay.

UIC's Brian Mustanski, working with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, found stretches of DNA that appeared to be linked to sexual orientation on three different chromosomes in the nucleus of cells of the human male.

"There is no one 'gay' gene," said Mustanski, a psychologist in the UIC department of psychiatry and lead author of the study. "Sexual orientation is a complex trait, so it's not surprising that we found several DNA regions involved in its expression."

I was prepared to disbelieve this. Very little is determined by "a" gene. Or even "a" genetic sequence. Most traits (and the more complicated the trait the more so) appear to be a combination of genes and gene sequences and the interference pattern set up among them. To say nothing of interpenetration.

But Mustanski's comments seem to take this into account. I'd love to sit down and talk with him about this and look at the methodology of this study in detail.

I'm not convinced without seeing the data (and also seeing it replicated) and examing the methodology. But without any of that, it looks like they might be on the right track.

I can't design a scientific study to save my own soul, but I can damn well tell you where you went wrong in yours. It's a gift ( but not a very pretty one). So I would love to see the raw data.

But, given what we know... I figure they are on the right track. At least looking in the right direction.

Thanks, Dwick. I can always trust you to have a keen eye for the scientific stuff and the political stuff. And that is very much appreciated.

Khash.