
Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into same-sex sexual behavior - helloworld
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6456/eaat7693
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helloworld
If you have a WSJ subscription, this article provides a good overview:

[https://www.wsj.com/articles/research-finds-genetic-links-
to...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/research-finds-genetic-links-to-same-sex-
behavior-11567101661)

 _The study involved people who self-reported whether they had ever had sex
with someone of the same sex, not whether they considered themselves gay,
lesbian, bisexual or another orientation.

“Behavior versus identity are different components and different pieces of how
people think about their sexual behavior,” said Benjamin Neale, a geneticist
and member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University who is one of
the study’s senior authors. “That is a really critical aspect to sort of
appreciating and understanding how we think about these kind of issues.”

Taking into account the entire contribution of genetic markers that may play a
role, the researchers estimated that genetic variation could account for up to
8% to 25% of same-sex sexual behavior in the population studied. But when the
researchers pooled all of the identified markers to create a score for an
individual person, the genetic variation explained less than 1%, making it
practically impossible to predict a person’s sexual orientation or behavior
based on their genome.

“It does solidify the fact that genes matter,” said Michael Bailey, a
psychology professor at Northwestern University who wasn’t involved in the
work. “But it also provides more support for something that we all knew,
pretty much—that genes can’t be close to the entire story.”_

