Sunday, October 3, 2010

Genes discovered that decide whether we will be tall or short




Lofty ambitions: Scientists hope to track down all the genetic mutations that determine if we will be tall like John Cleese or short like Ronnie Corbett
Scientists have pinpointed why some people shoot up to become superstar basketball players while others struggle to reach 5ft.
The genetic finding is a giant stride towards explaining why comedian John Cleese towers over his friend Ronnie Corbett.
While obesity is caused by a mix of genetic and environmental factors, about 80 per cent of variation in human height is determined by our genes.

Now researchers have identified hundreds of mutations that account for about 10 per cent of the inherited difference in height among people.
Study leader Professor Joel Hirschhorn of Harvard Medical School, said: 'Height clearly has a lot to do with genetics - shorter parents tend to have shorter children, and taller parents tend to have taller children.
'This paper is the biggest step forward to date in understanding which of the genetic variants that differ between people account for our differences in height.'
The GIANT (Genetic Investigation of ANthropometric Traits) Consortium pooled millions of pieces of genetic data from more than 180,000 individuals in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1316471/Genes-decide-tall-short.html

No comments:

Post a Comment