Can Your Genes Make You a Murderer?

 In 2006 there was a case of a murder in the mountains of Tennessee. A brutal murder of a wife and her close friend committed by her husband. His defense attorney argued at the court case that his actions were to be blamed in part on "his genes and his background of child abuse. Together these things gave him the potential to be a violent adult. He even showed numerous studies proving this argument to be true. He noted however that other studies have found no connection between MAO-A gene and violence, but told the jury that he still believed it was a dangerous mix. He also claimed that his client suffered from intermittent explosive disorder. This means that he simply just blew up and acted in the heat of the moment. The prosecutor argued that this was all smoke and mirrors and it was used to try and confuse the jury. He said that "it had nothing to do with his genetic makeup." The jury however did believe the defense attorney and agreed that his genes and his childhood background, along with the mental disorder, had caused him to erupt that night. If I were on that jury I think that I would have agreed with this as well.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128043329

https://www.popsci.com/can-your-genes-make-you-kill/

Picky Eating May Stem From Your Genes

Researchers in the UK and Norway recently published a study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry that focused on the genetics behind picky eaters. The study centered around 16 month old twins from a UK program called Gemini. Over 1900 families with twins participated in the study, curious to know whether or not their children's eating habits were affected by their genetic makeup. The researchers compared identical twins, due to the fact that they share 100% of their genes, and fraternal twins, who share approximately 50% of their genes. The parents were required to take a survey that asked a list of questions pertaining to their child's eating habits and patterns, as well as what the children enjoyed eating and what they resisted eating. The results showed that at least 46% of variation in the fussiness of a child came from their genetic makeup, influenced by multiple genes and not just one singular one. The finding also showed that 58% of new food rejection in 16 month old children stemmed from their genetics as well.

The main conclusion to this study was that genetics definitely has an influence in the food pickiness of a child, however, the exact extent and the specific genes that contribute to this have yet to be identified. The researchers proposed the idea that while genes have a huge influence on this topic, they are not set in stone when it comes to what the child eats, or how they develop in the future. In most cases, the child's environment has an equally important role in what kinds of foods they like and dislike. Depending on factors such as location, food availability, and parental influence, children may change over time in their level of food pickiness despite the initial influence that their genes have on them. A significant factor of the study was that it was performed on toddlers, a time where development is still a major factor and change may occur. In adult populations, the results may be different. It would be interesting to see a follow up study for these 16 month old children at different stages in their lives to assess how much has changed since their initial assessment. This information poses an important question based on the foundation of our genes: just how much do they influence our likes and dislikes when it comes to food? And to what extent will our likes and dislikes be passed down to our children? I believe this study is important because with more research and future findings, we may be able to pinpoint the exact genes that are responsible for influencing our taste. This study opened the doors for much more research to be done in the field.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/14/is-your-child-a-fussy-eater-the-reason-could-be-in-their-genes 

Do ‘Virginity Genes exist?

            Genetic makeup may now  be able to tell us if a person is still a virgin or not. According to an epidemiologist at Cambridge University by the name of Ken Ong, genes influence that ages of first sexual intercourse and first child birth.” The genes influence by expressing on both personality and physical traits. He concluded this information after analyzing genetic data of hundreds of thousands of people. For decades, scientists have correlated puberty to genetic factors. However, the results of the study found a moderate genetic component for both analyzing the age of both sexual intercourse and first child birth yet, it was not found to be a cause and effect relationship. With the data gathered on about 400,000 people in the U.S, Iceland and the United Kingdom, it was also concluded that several genetic factors were linked to the age of first intercourse, first childbirth, and number of offspring as well as age of puberty. Researchers found a correlation of obese children reaching puberty faster as well. Still, to further explain the genetic factors that influence this, scientists found that there are certain genes that increase the drive of sexual activity in individuals of a certain age group specifically teenagers.

            To sum things up a bit, the main findings in this study really came down to finding a huge correspondence between teenage behaviors resulting from a contribution of our genes and the environment that surrounds us. Like Ong stated, this finding can alert many children and parents of teenagers to strive to find safe ways to avoid children starting puberty at young ages. However, other researchers still ponder about other factors that could potentially affect the commencement of puberty. Some of these factors mentioned include one’s diet and lifestyle. This seems to be a matter of nature vs. nurture where biological factors may be in competence with one’s norms. 

Do Mosquitos Love You? Blame Your Genes

Ever wonder why you are the only one ever being eaten up by mosquitos while others don't? Why are these mosquitos circling you but not the person next to you? In a recent study, researchers found that mosquitos are attracted to body odors, which are influenced by your genetic make up.

The study consisted of 8 pairs of female identical twins and 19 pairs of female fraternal twins. They found that expert sniffers were able to match the scents to the identical twins and then tested the identical and fraternal twins to see which were more attractive to the mosquitoes.The research revealed that the participants' attractiveness to mosquitoes was more similar in identical twins than the fraternal twins, hence the idea that your genetic makeup influences the odor that attracts mosquitoes.
Much more research must be done to further prove the idea. This type of research is extremely important because this could help fight against mosquito transmitted diseases like Malaria, West Nile Virus, Elephantiasis, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever.
I personally believe more research should be done because the repellents that we use for the mosquitos in the long run will start hurting humans. Mosquitos are evolving more and more and are beginning to be immune to the repellents, meaning we have to make stronger ones ver time. The stronger the repellent odors, the more harmful on humans.

Original Article

Genetic Makeup May Help Explain Methadone Overdoses

 

 Genetic variations that affect how quickly people metabolize the synthetic drug methadone have been identified. Methadone is a prescription drug used to treat pain. Methadone is also used to treat addiction to narcotic drugs used for pain relief and heroin. Although methadone is a narcotic pain reliever, if it remains in the body for too long, it can be deadly. 

Dr. Evan Kharasch from Washington University School of Medicine stated that, “A person’s genetic makeup influences how an enzyme in the liver metabolizes methadone. This explains why some people can have very high levels of methadone in their blood – high enough to trigger a potential overdose – even if they have received the same dose of the drug as others who are not affected the same way.” The researchers have concluded that if genetic testing is used prior to patients being prescribed methadone that the findings could help prevent and reduce some of the 5,000 deaths that occur in the United States each year due to methadone overdoses. In figuring out why people metabolize methadone differently and how exactly a person’s genetic makeup affected that process, blood samples were analyzed from healthy volunteers to determine their genetic makeup and then gave them methadone and observed how quickly it cleared from their bodies. This experiment allowed the researchers to pinpoint genetic sub-types that affect methadone metabolism. 

The results from the experiment showed that variations in a gene that influences how methadone clears in the liver had a major effect on how long the drug stayed in the body. The researchers also found that the genetic variants were more likely to affect metabolism of methadone in liquid or pill form than intravenous methadone. To primary doctors, that finding is important because they may be more likely to prescribe the oral form and may or may not be familiar with the difficulties in using methadone to treat pain. I found this interesting because if tests are done prior to prescribing patients the narcotic pain reliever, overdoses due to the drug can be prevented and the overall amount of deaths per year due to overdoses can decrease.

In addition, the study also found that, African-Americans were more likely to have the gene variant associated with slower methadone metabolism and less likely to have the gene variant associated with faster methadone metabolism. They believe that, that is why African-Americans and Caucasian patients typically clear methadone at different rates, because African-Americans were more likely than Caucasians to have higher methadone levels in the blood despite receiving the same amounts of the drug.

Original Article