Friday, January 21, 2011 3:30:30 AM
Genes bind both friends and family
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
by Andrew Letten
Cosmos Online
A new study has revealed that your genes could influence
who you make friends with. Credit: iStockPhoto
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fabric of the state. As for the dust and powder of individuality: it resembles nothing so much as Hobbes's war of all against
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SYDNEY: It is not just shared interests that link friends together, but also
their genes, according to researchers interested in the genetic basis of friendships.
The identification of genetic patterns within social networks throws new light on the various factors that influence friend choice.
“This is a first step towards understanding the biology of ‘chemistry’ - that feeling you have about a person that you will like or dislike them. We may choose our friends not just because of the social features we consciously notice about them, but because of the biological features we unconsciously notice”, said lead author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.
Birds of a feather
Amongst animals, humans are unusual in that we form long-term, non-reproductive relationships,
otherwise known as friendships, with individuals with whom we are not necessarily closely related.
Although we tend to forge friendships with people with similar characteristics
to us, the genetic consequences of these associations are largely unknown.
With their latest research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Fowler and his co-authors
provide evidence that the formation of non-reproductive unions can result in genetic structuring across a population.
Strong correlation
Utilising data collected in two independent health studies in the U.S., the authors compared variance in six genes across more than one thousand friendship pairs. To control for population stratification - the tendency of people to have similar genotypes because they befriend others in the same geographical area - information on ethnicity and sibling genotype was included in the analysis.
Of the six genes analysed, two exhibited a strong correlation between their expression and the likelihood of individuals to be friends.
Individuals carrying a gene associated with alcoholism, DDR2, were more likely to befriend other DDR2-positive peers, while DDR2-negative individuals formed friendships with those who lacked the gene.
Opposites attract
Conversely, another gene gave unexpected credence to the adage ‘opposites attract’, with people carrying a gene associated with an open personality type, CYP2A6, tending to make friends with individuals who lacked the gene.
For Fowler, one of the study’s most significant implications is that it suggests our genes not only influence us, but may influence the genes of our friends, which in turn has a feedback effect on us.
“For example, the DRD2 gene variant we studied has been associated with alcoholism, and if you have this gene variant, your friends are likely to have it, too. So you are not only more susceptible to alcoholism yourself, but you are likely to be surrounded by friends who are susceptible too”, Fowler told Cosmos online.
Other factors?
“This is a really interesting study”, said Daniel Blumstein of the University of California, Los Angeles, an evolutionary biologist interested in the evolution of sociality in mammals. “The positive associations do suggest that birds of a feather flock together”.
However, Blumstein observed that further research was needed to assess the statistical importance of the different variables effecting friend choice.
“Ultimately we want to understand the consequences of these non-random associations compared to other potential causal factors”.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3969/genes-bind-both-friends-and-family?page=0%2C1
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
by Andrew Letten
Cosmos Online
A new study has revealed that your genes could influence
who you make friends with. Credit: iStockPhoto
Related articles
* Can harmful relationships actually be beneficial?
* Happiness spreads in waves, study says
* Genes affect voter participation
* Male genes blamed for marital problems
* 'Warrior gene' more prevalent in New Zealand's Maoris
"By eviscerating public services and reducing them to a network of farmed-out private providers, we have begun to dismantle the
fabric of the state. As for the dust and powder of individuality: it resembles nothing so much as Hobbes's war of all against
all, in which life for many people has once again become solitary, poor and more than a little nasty. -Tony Judt"
SYDNEY: It is not just shared interests that link friends together, but also
their genes, according to researchers interested in the genetic basis of friendships.
The identification of genetic patterns within social networks throws new light on the various factors that influence friend choice.
“This is a first step towards understanding the biology of ‘chemistry’ - that feeling you have about a person that you will like or dislike them. We may choose our friends not just because of the social features we consciously notice about them, but because of the biological features we unconsciously notice”, said lead author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.
Birds of a feather
Amongst animals, humans are unusual in that we form long-term, non-reproductive relationships,
otherwise known as friendships, with individuals with whom we are not necessarily closely related.
Although we tend to forge friendships with people with similar characteristics
to us, the genetic consequences of these associations are largely unknown.
With their latest research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Fowler and his co-authors
provide evidence that the formation of non-reproductive unions can result in genetic structuring across a population.
Strong correlation
Utilising data collected in two independent health studies in the U.S., the authors compared variance in six genes across more than one thousand friendship pairs. To control for population stratification - the tendency of people to have similar genotypes because they befriend others in the same geographical area - information on ethnicity and sibling genotype was included in the analysis.
Of the six genes analysed, two exhibited a strong correlation between their expression and the likelihood of individuals to be friends.
Individuals carrying a gene associated with alcoholism, DDR2, were more likely to befriend other DDR2-positive peers, while DDR2-negative individuals formed friendships with those who lacked the gene.
Opposites attract
Conversely, another gene gave unexpected credence to the adage ‘opposites attract’, with people carrying a gene associated with an open personality type, CYP2A6, tending to make friends with individuals who lacked the gene.
For Fowler, one of the study’s most significant implications is that it suggests our genes not only influence us, but may influence the genes of our friends, which in turn has a feedback effect on us.
“For example, the DRD2 gene variant we studied has been associated with alcoholism, and if you have this gene variant, your friends are likely to have it, too. So you are not only more susceptible to alcoholism yourself, but you are likely to be surrounded by friends who are susceptible too”, Fowler told Cosmos online.
Other factors?
“This is a really interesting study”, said Daniel Blumstein of the University of California, Los Angeles, an evolutionary biologist interested in the evolution of sociality in mammals. “The positive associations do suggest that birds of a feather flock together”.
However, Blumstein observed that further research was needed to assess the statistical importance of the different variables effecting friend choice.
“Ultimately we want to understand the consequences of these non-random associations compared to other potential causal factors”.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3969/genes-bind-both-friends-and-family?page=0%2C1
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