Ein interessanter Artikel zum Stand der Verhaltensgenetik:
Behavior genetics studies how genetic differences among people contribute to differences in their psychology and behavior. Here, I describe how the conclusions and methods of behavior genetics have evolved in the postgenomic era in which the human genome can be directly measured. First, I revisit the first law of behavioral genetics stating that everything is heritable, and I describe results from large-scale meta-analyses of twin data and new methods for estimating heritability using measured DNA. Second, I describe new methods in statistical genetics, including genome-wide association studies and polygenic score analyses. Third, I describe the next generation of work on gene environment interaction, with a particular focus on how genetic influences vary across sociopolitical contexts and exogenous environments. Genomic technology has ushered in a golden age of new tools to address enduring questions about how genes and environments combine to create unique human lives.
Quelle: “Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated”: Behavior Genetics in the Postgenomic Era
In dem Artikel gibt es eine interessante Grafik, die den in Studien festgestellten Grad der Vererblichkeit mit den Annahmen in der Bevölkerung zur Vererblichkeit vergleicht:
Da sieht man zum Beispiel, dass die Veerbbarkeit politischer Ansichten unterschätzt wird, die der sexuellen Orientierung hingegen überschätzt wird. Letzteres dürfte aber auch damit zusammenhängen, dass sexuelle Orientierung oft weniger eine genetische Sache ist, sondern eine hormonelle (was zusammen hängen kann, aber nicht muss) und die Leute das nicht so passend differenzieren.
Interessant ist auch, dass die Kosten für Genanyalsen stark zurück gegangen sind:
The Human Genome Project, which took over a decade to complete, sequenced a complete human genome at a cost of approximately $3 billion. Now, a few decades later, the cost of whole-genome sequencing has plummeted, now being less than $1,000 per person. And the cost of whole-genome sequencing, which measures every DNA letter in a person’s genome, still far exceeds the cost of genotyping a person on a genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Unlike whole-genome sequencing, a SNP array measures only a fraction of the genome, focusing on several million genetic variants that commonly vary between humans. SNP genotyping from noninvasive samples of human saliva is now available for less than $60 per person
Von 3 Milliarden pro vollständige Gensequenzierung auf ca 1000 Euro.
Gleichzeitig bringen große Datenbanken mit „Genmaterial“ auch neue Formen der Analyse:
Alles Evolution 