Is sexual orientation determined by our genes?

Genetic analysis of 409 pairs of Gif brothers, including a set of twins, provided the most compelling evidence yet of homosexual births. The study clearly links male sexual orientation: two regions of the human genome — one on the X chromosome, the other on chromosome 8.

Contents of the article:

• Asya Kazantseva about mind reading, the influence of genes on orientation and happiness
• Myths about the formation of sexual orientation / origins of sexual

This finding undermines the idea that sexual orientation is a selection process, says principal investigator Alan Sanders of the North Shore Research Institute in Evanston, Illinois. The region on the X chromosome isolated in the study and named XQ28 was also originally identified by Dean Hamer of the US National Institutes of Health in 1993. Another important test region is in the center of chromosome 8, known as 8Q12, which was first designated in 2005.

Over the past five years, Sanders has collected blood and saliva samples from 409 pairs of Goth siblings, including rogue twins, from 384 families. The team looked at the location of the genetic markers.

Read also: New sexual orientation — scoliosexuality

There are already dozens of definitions in the world that apply to a person’s sexual orientation. There are so many terms for gender.

Asya Kazantseva about mind reading, the influence of genes on orientation and happiness from the point of view of neurons

The only trait that was accurately tracked among the 818 men was homosexuality. All other characteristics, such as hair color, height and intelligence, vary to varying degrees. Five frequently occurring changes could be isolated from the X chromosome and the XQ28 and 8Q12 regions of chromosome 8, respectively. Saunders says these rates were compared between homosexuals and heterosexuals to see if there were obvious differences.

This study drives another nail into the theory of homosexuality as a chosen lifestyle,” said neuroscientist and study author Simon Levy in 1991.

Myths about the formation of sexual orientation / origins of sexual orientation — myths and truths