Discovery of 'gay gene' questioned
Wickelgren, I.
Science 284(5414): 571
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 10328731 Document Number: 509211
In this issue, George Rice of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and colleagues dispute the discovery of a genetic link to male homosexuality made six years ago. The original report, by Dean Hamer and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute, claimed that an as yet unidentified gene on the X chromosome affects who develops the trait. Now, Rice's team report that they failed to find any linkage between male homosexuality and Xq28, the chromosomal segment implicated by the NCI team's report. Moreover, unpublished work by a team led by Alan Sanders at the University of Chicago supports Rice's findings. According to Rice, taken together, the results indicate that if a linkage does exist it is so weak that it is negligible.