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A new study has associated rare variants of specific genes with the development of left-handedness in humans.
Learning how these variations make left-handers different in other ways could help solve mysteries such as how genes can make people more likely to have neurodevelopmental disorders or develop neurodegenerative diseases.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands studied genetic data from more than 350,000 people. They also came across some potential similarities and differences between brain-related disorders and rare coding factors that contribute to left-handedness.
Restricted orientations resembling the mirrored reflections of human hands are surprisingly common in biology. Even molecules often have a consistent orientation referred to as their chirality. The building blocks of proteins usually have a structure described as left-handed, for example, while the DNA found naturally in all living things twists up in right-handed fashion.
www.sciencealert.com
Learning how these variations make left-handers different in other ways could help solve mysteries such as how genes can make people more likely to have neurodevelopmental disorders or develop neurodegenerative diseases.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands studied genetic data from more than 350,000 people. They also came across some potential similarities and differences between brain-related disorders and rare coding factors that contribute to left-handedness.
Restricted orientations resembling the mirrored reflections of human hands are surprisingly common in biology. Even molecules often have a consistent orientation referred to as their chirality. The building blocks of proteins usually have a structure described as left-handed, for example, while the DNA found naturally in all living things twists up in right-handed fashion.
Rare Genetic Variants Are Curiously Connected With Being Left-Handed
A new study has associated rare variants of specific genes with the development of left-handedness in humans.
www.sciencealert.com
