people marry similar dna genetic match
Published on May 20th, 2014
0Why People Marry Those With Similar DNA? Genetic Match?
The attraction of opposites is a myth, similarities are most important in choosing a partner and genes play an important role in this process.
Recent research shows that people tend to choose partners with a similar genetic profile of their own. Even if the effect is subtle - other similarities, such as those related to education, have a bigger effect - shows that the choice of selecting a partner has also a genetic aspect of which we are unaware, but which influence our choices.
Although many are convinced that, in choosing a life partner, opposites attract. In reality choosing a mate is guided by similarities that often we are not aware, shows the results of a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Many studies had shown that people tend to choose partners who are similar in terms of education, social class, race, and even body weight. The phenomenon is called assortative mating.
The question, according to study leader and University of Colorado research associate Benjamin Domingue, was whether these assortative mating differences are visible at the genetic level.
New research finds that people tend to pick spouses whose genetic profile shares similarities with their own.
The study, led by Benjamin Domingue, University of Colorado, USA, analyzed genetic data on 825 U.S. non-Hispanic whites. They compared the similarity of the DNA of married couples with the similarity of random, non-coupled individuals. The results show that similarities underlying asortative mating extend to the genetic level: the people in married couples had several DNA segments that were similar.
The genetic effect on educational attainment played a small role: The research team found that no more than 10 percent of the variation in similarities in education had to do with similarities in genetics in a married pair.
However, the effect of asortative genes matter in choosing a mate, and this study, although limited, is a first step in researching the genetic aspect of how we choose our life partners.
Source: Live Science
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Mihalka Tiberiu , editor of Discovery-Zone. News portal for science, technology, nature and travel that aims to be the largest site to popularize science and general knowledge. Discovery-Zone brings daily news of science, investigates and analyses the controversial inventions or discoveries of the past century. Find us on Google+
