PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsNewsStudy suggests 'gene drain' from Britain's industrial areas

BioNews

Study suggests 'gene drain' from Britain's industrial areas

Published 25 October 2019 posted in News and appears in BioNews 1021

Author

Julianna Photopoulos

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.

A new study suggests a 'gene drain' linked to social migration in Great Britain, where people with a genetic predisposition for higher educational attainment are more likely to leave former industrial regions and live in wealthier areas...

A new study suggests a 'gene drain' linked to social migration in Great Britain, where people with a genetic predisposition for higher educational attainment are more likely to leave former industrial regions and live in wealthier areas.

'An unintended side effect of merit-based social mobility is that it stimulates selective migration; people with a higher education are more likely to move to regions that offer better living conditions and professional opportunities,' lead author and geneticist Dr Abdel Abdellaoui and neuroscientist Dr Judy Luigjes (not involved in the study), both at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, wrote in The Scientist.

The team of international researchers used the UK BioBank data of approximately 450,000 individuals to investigate whether social traits, such as educational attainment, vary genetically across regions in the UK. They used over 1.3 million SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) for 33 health and behavioural traits to calculate polygenic scores, which measure the importance of genetics for a certain characteristic. The researchers found that people living in poorer areas, such as coal-mining regions, had fewer genetic variants associated with staying in school longer or continuing to higher education.

'If that goes on for multiple generations, then for the sort of social inequalities already there, you run the risk of increasing those inequalities on a biological level,' Dr Abdellaoui told Nature.

He explains in The Scientist that these conditions 'stimulate outwards migration, worse health outcomes, and likely worse educational outcomes as well' but the problem could be solved by improving the living conditions of the poorer areas.

But it is not clear yet why these genes are linked to educational attainment. Professor Peter Visscher, a geneticist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia who was involved in the study, said: 'I see that as a proxy for genes to do with intelligence and maybe perseverance, and maybe a bit of risk-taking.'

'It's a combination of environmental and genetic effects,' said Dr Abdellaoui, who also points out that the authors are not suggesting that the genes are the only factor of an individual's educational outcome.

'The results of this kind of study are based on associations, and must be presented very carefully to prevent suggestions that a person's genes determine their outcomes,' Dr Daniel Benjamin, a behavioural economist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, told Nature. 'People have a really hard time understanding that genes don't determine behaviour.'

Dr Tim Morris, an epidemiologist at the University of Bristol, also expressed some concerns about the study: 'My main fear is that these results will be over-interpreted. They are informative descriptive statistics, but descriptive nonetheless.'

He added that the regional results have to be interpreted with care because the UK BioBank data are extremely selective and may not fully represent the populations of the former industrial areas.

However, the approach could help researchers understand how the environment affects complex behavioural traits. 'It is super-exciting,' said Professor Philipp Koellinger, a genoeconomist at Vrije University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 'It gives us better and more-precise ways for scientists to answer questions they have been interested in for a long time.'

The study was published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Sources and References

  • 21/10/2019
    Nature News
    The promise and peril of the new science of social genomics
  • 21/10/2019
    Nature Human Behaviour
    Genetic correlates of social stratification in Great Britain
  • 21/10/2019
    The Scientist
    Opinion: The Nature of Social Inequalities in Great Britain
  • 21/10/2019
    EurekAlert
    Research reveals how migration affects DNA patterns in the UK

Related Articles

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
Reviews
9 May 2022 • 4 minutes read

Event Review: Challenges with Embryo Selection Using Polygenic Scores, Fertility 2022

by Dr Valerie Shaikly

The use of polygenic risk scores for embryo selection has come up repeatedly over the past year so I was excited to attend a talk on the subject at the Fertility 2022 conference...

PET BioNews
Comment
17 February 2020 • 1 minute read

FILM: Health and Genomics - What's the Score with Polygenic Scores?

by Sandy Starr

This film documents a debate about polygenic risk scores chaired by the deputy director of the Progress Educational Trust at the Battle of Ideas festival...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
23 August 2019 • 2 minutes read

US project on 1 million genomes lines up genetic counsellors

by Dr Eleanor Lynam

A US governmental programme which aims to sequence the genomes of one million people has teamed up with a company to offer genetic counselling to participants...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
News
16 November 2018 • 3 minutes read

Genetic test to screen embryos for low intelligence developed in US

by Ruth Retassie

A polygenic test to assess embryos for intelligence has been launched and several US IVF clinics are considering offering it to patients...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
27 July 2018 • 2 minutes read

Genetic patterns linked to time in education discovered

by Rikita Patel

Genetic variants may influence how long people remain in school, according to a study of over 1 million genomes...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
13 July 2018 • 2 minutes read

Genetics of success revealed by large study

by Paul Waldron

A person's genes can partly predict their likelihood of success in life, according to a new study...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Gates Foundation and NIH pledge $200 million for gene therapies

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.

Find out how you can advertise here
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Popular
  • Recent
8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Lower hormone doses may improve IVF egg quality

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Boosting muscle cell production of gene therapy proteins

1 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

First UK medical guidelines issued for trans fertility preservation

1 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Male age has more impact on IVF birth rate than previously thought

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Placenta and organ formation observed in mouse embryo models

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Complex structures of the human heart bioengineered

8 August 2022 • 1 minute read

Brain tumour gene also linked to childhood cancers

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Lower hormone doses may improve IVF egg quality

8 August 2022 • 2 minutes read

Boosting muscle cell production of gene therapy proteins

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856