Non-heterosexual behaviors are not related to specific genes

2019/08/29 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Etika
• Giza zientziak
• Berdintasuna
• Biologia
• Genetika
• Anatomia/Fisiologia

According to the larger study conducted to investigate whether genetics affects non-heterosexual behavior, there is no clear relationship between sex and genes with people of the same sex. The research has been conducted by an international team and the results have been published in the journal Science. In addition, the website geneticsexbehavior.info has been made available to all those interested in why and who have done this research, what they have done, what results they have obtained and what their shortcomings are.

As they have explained, in various investigations so far have found relationships between homosexuality and genes, but they were not solid. On this occasion they compared the genetic data of 477,522 people with their sexual behavior. Despite the high number of participants, researchers have recognized that the sample is not sufficiently heterogeneous: They come from the US. and of Great Britain, they are of high socioeconomic class and of limited age (about 50 years). However, by number and type of study (GWAS), it is found that the results are significant.

In fact, they have seen that among the millions of markers that have DNA, five are related to non-heterosexual behavior, but their influence is very small. One of these markers, for example, is related to the smell and estrogen and the regulation of testosterone, but both in the smell and in the regulation of hormones also influence thousands of other markers.

The results show that there is no clear relationship between non-heterosexual behavior and genes, so it is not possible to predict a person's sexual behavior through a genetic study. In addition, researchers have confirmed that the hobby and sexual behavior transcends the binary and heterosexual model, covering a broad spectrum. They have announced that they will continue investigating the subject, but they clearly say: “There is not a single dimension of sexuality.”