A gene for...

Research has been published which suggests that there may be a genetic link to intelligence. The research, published in Nature Neuroscience, shows that the size of certain regions of the brain is genetically controlled and that there is a relationship between this size and intelligence. Using magnetic resonance imaging, Dr Paul Thompson from the University of California identified the different regions of grey and white matter in the brains of identical and fraternal twins. He found that qualities that would be under genetic control, such as the size of the area of grey matter in the brain's frontal lobe, varied very little between identical twins in comparison to between fraternal twins. The variation was even greater between unrelated individuals.

In a separate study, Canadian scientists studying a rare disease called Williams syndrome say that it is possible that genetics may be responsible for people having special gifts such as musical talent or mathematical brilliance. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that certain genes can be 'flipped' within the genome. The team leader, Stephen Scherer described it as 'a 20-word sentence in this 40,000 word book that is the human genome is printed in reverse order'. Most children with Williams syndrome have a section of genes missing from chromosome 7, but the scientists have found that about five per cent of children do not have missing genes but have the section of the chromosome on which they are on inverted. These children often have a special 'gift', such as perfect musical pitch.

Research has also identified the first gene that is linked to asthma. More than 450 US and UK families were involved in the study. Stephen Holgate, a professor at Southampton University, has spent nearly five years looking for a gene linked to asthma in the hope that the information will lead to better diagnostic testing of babies and the development of new drugs. The research centred around 168 genes that are near each other on the human genome. Professor Holgate said that 'one protein model finally emerged. Once we had it, there was no mistaking it was the right gene.' He explained that the protein discovery was likely to be the first of many that would be linked to the disease. It is thought that the research will be described in detail to a medical audience early next year before publication in a scientific journal.