3 ms·

"Of course, as Pack himself is quick to point out, even combined with Fu’s data the mutation sample remains miniscule. So now, in an international collaboration

"Of course, as Pack himself is quick to point out, even combined with Fu’s data the mutation sample remains miniscule. So now, in an international collaboration with existing sleep-study cohorts spanning the U.K., South Korea, and China, Pack is in the process of gaining access to somewhere between half a million and a million participants. The next step is to sequence the twenty or so CLOCK genes (the genes that are involved in regulating circadian rhythms) that have been identified, to look for both the mutations Fu and Pack have found and any new variants that may affect sleep physiology." Prediction: like all other human behavioral traits, sleep length will turn out to be influenced by multiple genes, each with small effect. That is the consistent finding of all human behavior genetics research in the genome-wide-association-study era.[1] [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3778125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3778125/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498585/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498585/ http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/01/16/1322563111 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/01/16/1322563111

nmjohn 12y ago
> Prediction: like all other human behavioral traits, sleep length will turn out to be influenced by multiple genes, each with small effect. That is the consistent finding of all human behavior genetics research in the genome-wide-association-study era. You are 100% correct. I cannot think of a single behavioral attribute that has any correlation with only a single gene. Physical traits and diseases, absolutely, many are associated with just a single gene. However! Your comment comes across to me like because it won't be just a single gene what's the point? Well because science is an incredibly iterative process and finding the first gene then leads to the second, and the third, and so on. As such, patience is a virtue for unlocking these complex puzzles. Regardless, the way most science is reported by the media - even sources who ought to now better - is insulting to science as a whole.
carbocation 12y ago
You're right re: large numbers of small-effect variants - and it's also true for other genetically determined traits (such as cholesterol levels). Now, there are some high-impact, low-frequency variants in the non-behavioral sciences, but so long as they work additively (and generally are not recessive traits) they usually get picked up in the GWAS anyway. Obliquely, this leads me to argue that you may well find great drug targets among the behavioral genetics GWAS hits (for certain traits).

nmjohn 12y ago

> Prediction: like all other human behavioral traits, sleep length will turn out to be influenced by multiple genes, each with small effect. That is the consistent finding of all human behavior genetics research in the genome-wide-association-study era. You are 100% correct. I cannot think of a single behavioral attribute that has any correlation with only a single gene. Physical traits and diseases, absolutely, many are associated with just a single gene. However! Your comment comes across to me like because it won't be just a single gene what's the point? Well because science is an incredibly iterative process and finding the first gene then leads to the second, and the third, and so on. As such, patience is a virtue for unlocking these complex puzzles. Regardless, the way most science is reported by the media - even sources who ought to now better - is insulting to science as a whole.

carbocation 12y ago

You're right re: large numbers of small-effect variants - and it's also true for other genetically determined traits (such as cholesterol levels). Now, there are some high-impact, low-frequency variants in the non-behavioral sciences, but so long as they work additively (and generally are not recessive traits) they usually get picked up in the GWAS anyway. Obliquely, this leads me to argue that you may well find great drug targets among the behavioral genetics GWAS hits (for certain traits).