Looking for Beauty in your DNA

It is mentioned in the Medical News Today journal, that searching for beauty can be found in one’s DNA. Due to the fact that there is very little known about the genes that underpin the facial beauty, a recent study examines and asks the question of, “What is the genetic basis for facial attractiveness?” A group of researches form the University of Wisconsin-Madison obtained the same goal of determining whether any genes are allied with facial attractiveness. Scientist are interested in exploring the genes that are behind the facial beauty. They discovered that ‘beauty genes” contrast by sex. The genes that are specifically for regulating lipids and body mass in women are also associated with genetic variation. As for males, the “beauty” genetic variants were correlated to the genes that affect the cholesterol levels.

            Researchers have been able to demonstrate how blood cholesterol levels are accompanying to the synthesis of testosterone and multiple different steroid hormones. By conducting this type of study, an original comprehension of the genetic basis of facial attractiveness has been provided. Also, a multifaceted relationship between attractiveness and a diversity of human traits have been stipulated. Qiongshi Lu, mentions that, “Instead, attractiveness is most likely associates with a large number of genetic components with weak effects. Interestingly, sex-specificity is a recurrent pattern observed in almost all the analyses in ours study.”

Beauty Spots in the Genome

According to ScienceDaily, there is a new study conducted by Qiongshi Lu and colleagues, who have discovered that 'beauty spots' vary with a person's sex. Scientist's have performed a genome-wide study that used about five thousand individuals genetic information to find the genome that is linked to 'beauty spots'. Researcher's found several genes related to 'beauty spots' on individuals' face, but there was a difference in the traits depending on the individuals' sex. For women, genetic variation that was linked to 'beauty spots' was also linked to genes for body mass. For men, genes for 'beauty spots' was also linked to the gene that affects blood cholesterol levels. This study is new and upcoming, and it determines how some genetic information for one gene can be a result for another gene and how it varies for different sex's. So far, the study has been done on individuals with the same age and with the same ethical background. Future research can examine individuals with a variety of ages and with different ethical backgrounds.

I found this article to be interesting because I did not know that 'beauty spots' had anything to do with genetic information. It was interesting to understand that 'beauty spots' are in our genetic information and how they vary between an individuals sex. Hopefully, with further research, scientists can determine if an ethical background also plays a role with 'beauty spots'.

Beauty or Beast? Why Perceptions of Attractiveness Vary

A new study published in the Journal of Current Biology suggest that ones perception of other people's attractiveness is mainly the result of ones experiences. In the study conducted with twin, the researchers found that a person's environment plays a bigger role than gene in shaping who they find attractive.
The study consisted of 547 sets of identical twins and 214 sets of fraternal twins. The participants looked at 98 male faces and 102 female faces and participants rated them based on who was most attractive. The researchers compared the results between identical twins and fraternal twins to see if genetics played a major role in the attractiveness of the person or if it could be because of the environment the person was exposed to. The researchers concluded that genetics only attributed to the attractiveness of the person 22% of the time while the environment the person is exposed to attributed to the attractiveness of the person 78% of the time.
I believe this was kind of a fun experiment to prove that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. That the experiences people have and the knowledge one may have attracts some more than others and it is not always about the looks.

Original Article