It
was recently discovered that the size of children heads is not only related to
the size of their skull, but also to the size of their brain. This discovery
was published in Nature Communications,
on how a genome-wide analysis can identify the genetic effects of head size and
if it is related to the size of the brain. Up until the age of six, children
and baby heads are measured throughout their life to make sure they are having
healthy growth developments with their brain as they age. However, scientists
at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) researched a genome-wide study (GWAS) with
46,000 adult and children to collect data on the effects of head size and brain
size. The team suggests from the data collected, that an adult’s final head
size is genetically predicted at a young age. The team also discovered that a
rare gene, that about only two percent of the population contains, is called
TP53. TP53 is a gene that encodes for p53, which controls cell division. TP53 is known to have mutations, but p53 is known as a gene to thicken the membrane
of the skull bone, which can result in a larger brain size.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Genes that have Effect on Head and Brain Size
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