A gene is found responsible for the level of intellectual abilities of a person
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Not so long ago, a large international team of geneticists from the United States, Europe, and Australia posted an article in one of the latest issues of the journal Nature Genetics that two different versions of the same gene that directly affects a person's intellectual abilities can either strengthen , or worsen these abilities. The difference between the two options is just one coding letter.
Three years ago, several geneticists from the United States, Holland and Australia realized that the data obtained in only one laboratory based on a tomography study of the brain can not be considered sufficient to understand the nature of the human intellect. Then it was decided to combine the efforts of several laboratories, as a result of which the project ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) was born, which now employs about two hundred scientists from dozens of laboratories located around the world.
The main task before the ENIGMA project is the collection of different images of the brain provided by magnetic resonance imaging into one base and the comparison of these images with DNA and other information about the people who took part in the experiments. This should allow researchers to find genes or their sequences responsible for predisposition to mental disorders or other diseases associated with human intellectual activity.
The side-line of the project was the search for genes that determine mental abilities, as well as the size of the brain or its functional areas. By comparing brain images of more than 20,000 people with the results of testing their IQ (the so-called Eisenk's IQ test was used), scientists isolated a gene called HMGA2. Genes consist of letter elements, which have four variants: A, C, T and G. It turned out that if the letter H in the HGMA2 gene on a certain segment is replaced by the letter C, then the brain volume is likely to be higher, and its areas having attitude to memory and the level of intelligence in general, will be more developed.
According to the founders of the ENIGMA project, an undeniable proof of the effect of this gene on the brain has now been found, and in the future a way of controlling the action of this gene may appear.
[