Vertically Challenged? Research Shows You May Now Blame Your Parents

Scientists have discovered over a century ago that genes may likely influence a person's height but they failed to pinpoint which genes was responsible for it. However, according to a recent article at MIT news, an international research team may have pinpointed the first consistent genetic link associated with the human height.

According to the MIT news article, short stature should not signal a cause for concern but delayed growth is sometimes a symptom of a serious underlying health condition. The team's research may help reassure parents that their child's height is within the normal range since it is written in their DNA rather than the effect of a disease.

The research is a result of the combined efforts of scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Children's Hospital Boston, the University of Oxford and Peninsula Medical School, Exeter. With the completion of the HapMap Project, a multi-country effort to identify and catalog genetic similarities and differences in human beings, and the availability of large-scale research tools, the research team analyzed the DNA of almost 35,000 people using a "genome-wide association" method to search the human genome for single-letter differences in the genetic code that appear in taller persons rather than in shorter individuals. The researchers pinpointed the difference in the HMGA2 gene. Inheriting the gene which contains a C written in the DNA rather than a T makes individuals taller. According to MIT news, one copy can add about half a centimeter in a person's height while two copies can add a full centimeter.

According to Joel Hirschhorn, associate member of the Broad institute, the result of the research is the first convincing proof that can explain how genes can affect normal variation in human height. Hirschhorn also adds that the team's research can also teach scientists about the genetic framework of other complex traits like diabetes, cancer, and other common human diseases since height is a complex trait that involves a variety of genetic and non-genetic factors.

MIT news reported that 90 percent of the variation in height amongst humans can be attributed to DNA and the remainder to environment and lifestyle factors like nutrition. Some genes were already discovered through studying rare, single-gene stature disorders but most of the genes that were uncovered was not associated with height in the general population.

The researchers published their findings in the September 2 advance online edition of Nature Genetics.

SOURCE:

Nicole Davis, Genome study shines light on genetic link to height.