Friday, April 22, 2016

Friends are the Family that You Choose!

You may pick your friends based on the type of DNA that they have.  A new study found that friends had more gene variations in common compared to strangers. This could prove that friends are the family that you choose.  The researchers looked at over 1.5 million markers of gene variations that are found among humans.  It was discovered that friends shared the same amount of genetic relation that a person would show to a fourth cousin or a great-great-great grandfather.  This relation accounts for about 1% of their genome.  Which, for not being related, is a lot! The most common shared gene found between friends was the olfactory gene which, is associated with smell. The researchers stated that people may be friends due to their ethnicity, but they did take this into account and did a pool of homogenous people from a caucasian background.  Strangers were also randomly selected and their gene variations were compared.  They took into account that these people may share gene variations based on their genetic backgrounds. 

This article really surprised me.  I had no idea that there was so much gene correlation between friends.  It really makes you think twice about the people that you become friends with.  You may share more genes with these people than you think! I believe that more research should be done between different races.  The gene relation that occurred in the people that they sampled may just be due to their background and nothing to do with the fact that they are friends. 

3 comments:

  1. This article was VERY interesting and stood out to me a lot. The part that related to me the most was the fact that the olfactory gene associated with smell, is the most common shared genes. From what I have read prior, most couples are attracted to their partner's smell which makes them more attracted to their over all personality and appearance. With friends, having alike personalities relates with the kinds of genes they express. Fun and happy people will most likely related with similar people who are happy and outgoing. The only thing that may have caused friends to become close may be due to other factors such as parents forcing them to be friends with a certain "kind" of person.

    ReplyDelete
  2. While I thought your article was very interesting, I am not as sold on the results. I think that when people make friends its usually because the two people can relate to one another, whether its because of ethnicity, or where your from, or something else, so shouldn't there be some level common DNA between them (if you are the same ethnicity or come from the same area). I'm not buying that I chose my friends because of some involuntary behavior related to their genetics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I completely relate to this article! My best friend and her family became my second family, we have so much in common not only based on our personalities, but also as well as our appearances, I am Portuguese while her family is from Palestine and although we come from different cultures I do genuinely believe that we have very similar genetic traits which made us friends in the first place.

    ReplyDelete