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Scientists have discovered the first genetic markers related to being left-handed, according to a new study.
In addition, these genetic markers may play a role in brain development and communication between different areas of the brain, the authors said.
The results, published Thursday, September 5 in the journal Brain, "throw a lot more light on the [biological] process leading to awkwardness ", the lead author of the study, Dr. Akira Wiberg, a university researcher at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.
About 1 in 10 people in the world are left-handed. Scientists know that genes help to be left-handed, but they did not know which genes were involved.
Related: Unraveling the human genome: 6 molecular milestones
In the new study, researchers analyzed the genomes of about 400,000 people in the UK, whose medical records and genomic data are part of a database known as U.K. Biobank. Of these, approximately 38,000 were left-handed.
The researchers looked for differences in the DNA of left and right genes. right handed, and they identified four genetic markers related to the southpaw.
Three of these markers were located in genes providing instructions for making proteins involved in brain development and structure. For example, some of these genes have been implicated in the establishment of microtubules, which constitute "scaffolding" inside cells, called cytoskeletons.
Microtubules help maintain the structure of cells, including brain cells, the authors said. It is interesting to note that the cell scaffolding genes of other animals play a role of "left-right asymmetry" the snail shell winds up left or right, said the authors.
The researchers also analyzed brain scans from about 10,000 participants and discovered that these genetic markers are related to differences in the brain. white matter – long nerve fibers that allow areas of the brain to communicate. In particular, the differences were most pronounced in the pathways connecting brain regions related to language.
In addition, brain activity between language-related regions was more "synchronized" between left-handed participants than right-handed participants.
"We found that in left-handed participants, the linguistic areas on the left and right sides of the brain communicate with each other in a more coordinated way," said Wiberg.
This finding suggests that "left-handed people may have an advantage in doing verbal tasks," but much more research is needed to prove it, he said.
Wiberg also noted that differences in brain activity and white matter were considered average in a large number of people and that, therefore, the results might not apply to a given individual.
The study also found that genetic markers for left-handers are associated with a slightly increased risk of developing schizophrenia and a slightly lower risk of developing schizophrenia. Parkinson's disease. However, it is only an association and does not prove that these genetic markers are at the origin of one or the other of the psychiatric states.
It is also important to note that genes are not the destiny of right-handed or left-handed people. The researchers estimate that the "tolerance" is about 25% genetic, which means that the remaining 75% can be determined by the environment of a person. It is likely that a given genetic marker plays only a minor role in the overall odds of being right-handed or left-handed.
Originally published on Science live.
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