7th
A “Taller” Gene For Humans
I randomly came across information on the HMGA2 gene — a gene that has been associated with height in humans. I’m not exactly sure how scientists have determined that this gene is partly responsible for height, but a study of 5,000 white European patients suggested that persons with two “tall” HMGA2 genes (one from each parent) correlated to taller patients. Further study of 30,000 more patients reaffirmed the correlation, but I wonder what the demographic spread of that sample was. This gene could also be associated with cancer growth since taller people seem to be at higher risk for certain cancers (eg. prostate, bladder and lung). I wonder if Asian women have a higher occurence of having 2 “short” versions of this gene — and if Asian women have a lower risk of those cancers (not to single out Asian women as short, but…).
