Genetics Could Help You Next Time You Forget Your Anniversary

We can all admit we have forgotten an important date or event at one point in time or another. I know some have even spent a night or so sleeping on the couch after trying to explain how you might have forgotten such an important thing. International scientists and Boston University school of medicine researchers have linked memory loss to two genes. There is a possibility that memory loss could be inherited from your family gene pool. They tested over 30,000 people using different memory tests and mapped their whole genome. Ones with low memory scores were then analyzed to isolate possible gene differences. Important to note that none of the people had dementia. Interesting to see if there is a possibly treatment in the future to improve memory based on these findings. Imagine a pill that could help you study for an important test. Researchers agree that more testing is needed though to find more definitive proof though. Next time you are in trouble for forgetting something important, you can point out that crazy uncle that talks to himself in the corner and blame your family gene pool and not the beer.
http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-scientists-shed-new-light-on-how-memory-loss-is-inherited-203872http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-clues-memory-international-genetic.html http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-clues-memory-international-genetic.html
It will be very interesting to see where this research goes from here. If there is a possibility that memory loss can be inherited I'm in trouble because my parents are very forgetful.
ReplyDeleteI found this interesting because dementia in some for m or other has hit both my great grandmother and my grandmother so far. The more interesting part is that all the males in my genetic line have trouble remembering names on the spot but have great longer term memories.
ReplyDeleteHmm.. Maybe I should get my mom tested for these genes. Sometimes she can't remember things 2 minutes after it happened. But in all seriousness, if memory loss can be inherited, I hope I don't get my mom's bad genes for that.
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