Scientists Explain Height Mystery: This Gene Mutation is 2cm Shorter Than Normal

in #science7 years ago

Scientists have always wanted to know the mystery of height. After all, this is one of the most important indicators of humanity. However, from previous discoveries, humans have found hundreds of genes related to height.

Research teams led by human evolutionists have conducted large-scale functional tests on hundreds of genetic switches that affect height. They conducted genome-wide analysis of 250,000 people.

At the same time, another study was conducted, but this experiment led by the Harvard Medical School team did not initially want to study things related to height. They wanted to find out how genes affect tuberculosis. When scientists collected the genetic information of more than 4,000 Peruvian residents, they discovered a special genetic mutation that affects the height of Peruvians.

This gene is FBN1, and its allele, in fact, only one base difference in DNA, although the difference is extremely small, but it can affect the expression of an amino acid, and reflected in the height, the researchers found that carrying a Copy mutations are about two centimeters shorter than people with different versions, and people with two copies of mutations are shorter than four centimeters.

This is a very big discovery. Although there are hundreds of genes related to height, it seems that this gene alone can explain many problems. Of course, the data is gratifying. At the same time, research on larger groups is also an immediate matter. After all, this gene will not affect other people. It is something that scientists need to understand immediately.


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