Options
Genetics of Homosexuality
NoK
Posts: 824
in flies...
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=334540
Genetic 'switch' can turn fruit flies gay
Tuesday Dec 11 12:00 AEDT
A new study has found that a combination of genetic manipulation and drugs can transform fruit flies into homosexuals and back again in the space of a few hours.
Scientists at the University of Illinois in Chicago discovered a gene in fruit flies that they dubbed the "genderblind", or GB.
GB sends out a neurotransmitter called glutamate to brain cells, which can alter the strength of the synapses that play a key role determining human and animal behaviour.
Researchers found that a mutation of the GB gene turned flies into bisexuals.
They also discovered that all male flies with a mutation in their GB gene began to court other males.
"It was very dramatic," researcher David Featherstone said.
"The GB mutant males treated other males exactly the same way normal male flies would treat a female.
"They even attempted copulation."
"Based on our previous work, we reasoned that GB mutants might show homosexual behaviour because their … synapses were altered in some way," Featherstone said.
Homosexual courtship could have been the result of an "over-reaction" to sexual stimuli, he added.
To test this, researchers genetically altered the synapse strength, independent of the GB.
They also gave flies drugs to change the synapse strength.
And, as predicted, they were able to turn homosexuality on and off within hours.
"It was amazing," Featherstone said.
"I never thought we'd be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired.
"This fundamentally changes how we think about this behaviour."
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=334540
Genetic 'switch' can turn fruit flies gay
Tuesday Dec 11 12:00 AEDT
A new study has found that a combination of genetic manipulation and drugs can transform fruit flies into homosexuals and back again in the space of a few hours.
Scientists at the University of Illinois in Chicago discovered a gene in fruit flies that they dubbed the "genderblind", or GB.
GB sends out a neurotransmitter called glutamate to brain cells, which can alter the strength of the synapses that play a key role determining human and animal behaviour.
Researchers found that a mutation of the GB gene turned flies into bisexuals.
They also discovered that all male flies with a mutation in their GB gene began to court other males.
"It was very dramatic," researcher David Featherstone said.
"The GB mutant males treated other males exactly the same way normal male flies would treat a female.
"They even attempted copulation."
"Based on our previous work, we reasoned that GB mutants might show homosexual behaviour because their … synapses were altered in some way," Featherstone said.
Homosexual courtship could have been the result of an "over-reaction" to sexual stimuli, he added.
To test this, researchers genetically altered the synapse strength, independent of the GB.
They also gave flies drugs to change the synapse strength.
And, as predicted, they were able to turn homosexuality on and off within hours.
"It was amazing," Featherstone said.
"I never thought we'd be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired.
"This fundamentally changes how we think about this behaviour."
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Hail, Hail!!!
Wouldn't that fall under bestiality?
To the Gay... or the Fruit Fly?
Hail, Hail!!!
Imagine a human maggot.
The study is striking. The possibility that a change in the level of glutamic acid in the brain could lead to these sequence of events. This will probably lead to a genetic screen study which analyses this gene for a group of heterosexual and homosexual males. It'll be interesting to see the results.
A Fruity Fly, so to speak.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Hail, Hail!!!
Or a fruit fly faggot. . .
Sorry. I couldn't help myself.
It is interesting. Once you stop giggling at the thought of all those poor confused gay fruit flies trying to mate with other males. . . he he
-C Addison
not a fun day, not a fun day at all
a derivitive of nature.
nature is god
god is love
love is light
Scientists in Chicago are currently studying groups of brothers that are both gay to try and determine the cause of their sexuality.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,302066,00.html
Another interesting topic is Childhood Gender Nonconformity. CGN is when a young child tends to behave as if they were a member of the opposite sex. This is especially interesting because these children do not understand sexuality. They are not fueled by sexual desire or the ability to comply to some "norm". They just simply behave differently
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/08/14/what_makes_people_gay/
no disrespect intended; but does this mean homosexuality is an illness again?
No but it means a genetic mutation is the likely culprit...
That's different from being an illness.
But who the fuck cares!! For gods sake, if you're gay you're gay!
I've many gay friends who are completely happy being who they are and have always said they were gay from the first day they could remember. If it's genes or upbringing, who really cares!! In fact, although homosexuality is against reproduction, I believe it clearly (in a utopian society) promotes acceptance. Just leave them the fuck alone!!!!
Again, sorry if I offended anyone with either language or ideas but this topic drives me nuts as it seems like such old news.
Cheers,
Steve
i'm with you mate. my question was more from a legal standpoint.
yeah
not having a go, just get sick of it
one of my favourite simpsons para-quotes (if that's a word) from Flanders
"I've just done a fun-run to raise money for a cure....for homosexuality!"
Barstard!
cheers,
Steve
Ridiculous studies and a huge waste of resources, time and money.
Its called SCIENCE who is questioning their right to exist? Did you see anywhere in the first post anyone questioning their right to exist?
To determine if genes are responsible for homosexuality is a step closer to understanding the genes that control sexual behaviour in humans which is one step more in understanding humans in general. This is the way science sees it: isolation of a locus responsible for human sexual preference.
If the topic drives you nuts don't read about it.
I'll throw the argument back at you. If you view both sexualities as completely natural, can you not see that the isolation of the genes responsible for homosexuality is the isolation of the genes responsible for heterosexuality?
If you consider having green eyes an illness...
the question was posed because if homosexuality can be cured; that makes it an illness; thus from a legal standpoint; gays wouldn't have; for example; the right to wed.
if you still don't get it; i was asking what the legal ramifications of this study could be and how that would effect our current society.
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL,
International Herald Tribune
Published: June 3, 2005
When the genetically altered fruit fly was released into the observation chamber, it did what these breeders par excellence tend to do. It pursued a waiting virgin female. It gently tapped the girl with its leg, played her a song (using wings as instruments) and, only then, dared to lick her - all part of standard fruit fly seduction.
The observing scientist looked with disbelief at the show, for the suitor in this case was not a male, but a female that researchers had artificially endowed with a single male-type gene.
That one gene, the researchers are announcing today in the journal Cell, is apparently by itself enough to create patterns of sexual behavior - a kind of master sexual gene that normally exists in two distinct male and female variants.
In a series of experiments, the researchers found that females given the male variant of the gene acted exactly like males in courtship, madly pursuing other females. Males that were artificially given the female version of the gene became more passive and turned their sexual attention to other males.
"We have shown that a single gene in the fruit fly is sufficient to determine all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Barry Dickson, senior scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. "It's very surprising.
"What it tells us is that instinctive behaviors can be specified by genetic programs, just like the morphologic development of an organ or a nose."
The results are certain to prove influential in debates about whether genes or environment determine who we are, how we act and, especially, our sexual orientation, although it is not clear now if there is a similar master sexual gene for humans.
Still, experts said they were both awed and shocked by the findings. "The results are so clean and compelling, the whole field of the genetic roots of behavior is moved forward tremendously by this work," said Dr. Michael Weiss, chairman of the department of biochemistry at Case Western Reserve University. "Hopefully this will take the discussion about sexual preferences out of the realm of morality and put it in the realm of science."
He added: "I never chose to be heterosexual; it just happened. But humans are complicated. With the flies we can see in a simple and elegant way how a gene can influence and determine behavior."
The finding supports scientific evidence accumulating over the past decade that sexual orientation may be innately programmed into the brains of men and women. Equally intriguing, the researchers say, is the possibility that a number of behaviors - hitting back when feeling threatened, fleeing when scared or laughing when amused - may also be programmed into human brains, a product of genetic heritage.
"This is a first - a superb demonstration that a single gene can serve as a switch for complex behaviors," said Dr. Gero Miesenboeck, a professor of cell biology at Yale.
Dr. Dickson, the lead author, said he ran into the laboratory when an assistant called him on a Sunday night with the results. "This really makes you think about how much of our behavior, perhaps especially sexual behaviors, has a strong genetic component," he said.
All the researchers cautioned that any of these wired behaviors set by master genes will probably be modified by experience. Though male fruit flies are programmed to pursue females, Dr. Dickson said, those that are frequently rejected over time become less aggressive in their mating behavior.
When a normal male fruit fly is introduced to a virgin female, they almost immediately begin foreplay and then copulate for 20 minutes. In fact, Dr. Dickson and his co-author, Dr. Ebru Demir of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, specifically chose to look for the genetic basis of fly sexual behavior precisely because it seemed so strong and instinctive and, therefore, predictable.
Scientists have known for several years that the master sexual gene, known as fru, was central to mating, coordinating a network of neurons that were involved in the male fly's courtship ritual. Last year, Dr. Bruce Baker of Stanford University discovered that the mating circuit controlled by the gene involved 60 nerve cells and that if any of these were damaged or destroyed by the scientists, the animal could not mate properly. Both male and female flies have the same genetic material as well as the neural circuitry required for the mating ritual, but different parts of the genes are turned on in the two sexes. But no one dreamed that simply activating the normally dormant male portion of the gene in a female fly could cause a genetic female to display the whole elaborate panoply of male fruit fly foreplay.
They could the same results with humans who have a drug addiction or too much alcohol, without the genetic manipulation.
I "get it". The word cured is wrong. Do you cure someone with green eyes if you alter the gene to get a brown phenotype?
Saying homosexuality can be cured is like saying heterosexuality can be cured. Unless science is able to determine that the reason homosexuality occurs is due to an ABNORMAL alternation in the gene, the word cured doesn't fit.
Most human traits (maybe all) are genetically defined. Just because there is evidence that homosexuality has a genetic basis does not make it an illness. Many other human behaviours can be modified with drugs. That doesn't make them illnesses that need to be 'cured'.
-C Addison
Good point. But there will be people who argue that it will eventually get abused by others.
However, I do get the vibe of early 1900s "How to stop kids masturbating" and the like. Morals, tradition and habits, dressed up as science. If they had had knowledge of genes and the like back then, you'd be sure they'd seek out the "masturbation gene" or something.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
Cheers,
Steve