George Clooney's vasopressin receptor gene is clearly working just fine.
Well here's your Wednesday Fun Fact: Scientists have found a gene that they believe has a direct link to how monogamous a person is. Ladies and gentlemen put your hands together for the Vasopressin Receptor Gene! The Jezebel article states,
The male brain's "area for sexual pursuit" is still 2.5 times greater than that of the female brain. But according to neuropsychiatrist Dr. Louann Brizendine, author of The Male Brain, men are still naturally inclined to search for a partner and effectively mate for life...
In humans they've identified around 17 different lengths of the vasopressin receptor gene, and studies echo the vole experiment's findings: Men with longer versions of the gene in question tend to be in happy, successful marriages, whereas the guys with the shorter gene are more likely to be bachelors.
This is uber-interesting! It leads me to ask all sorts of questions (I've been having a lot of metaphysical quandaries lately.) As humans what separates us from our animal counterparts is our brain and the ability to have intelligent (but most of the times moronic) thought. Was the Vasopressin Receptor Gene there all along? Was it bigger? Have we shrunken it? Hypothetically speaking if our bodies have stopped evolving because of our minds then our minds might still be evolving. Have we developed to the state that only our minds are evolving and soon we will be divided, as a society, not by our bodies but by our minds? I think it's quite possible that, with the choices a person is offered, we've developed or excluded certain sensory preceptors in our brains. (ie I've managed to constantly fight the urge to kick people's luggage and children's rolly backpacks. I mean seriously, why the fuck do those things exist except to trip people?!)
Via Jezebel
The gene in question is AVPR1A and it codes for a protein called Vasopressin, which is a brain hormone. The same hormone has also been shown to affect monogamy in voles.
In the study, researchers found that men who had one 334 allelic version of the gene were likely to be scored lower by their partners for the strength of the relationship bond. They were also less likely to be married.
Men who had 2 copies of the 334 allele were inclined to remain single, but if they were to get married they would be twice as more inclined to have marital crisis than those men having only one or no copy of the 334 allele.
In addition, the study showed that women married or living with men who had 1 or 2 copies of 334 were less satisfied in their relationship than women married to men without 334.
There is a lot of discussion along the lines of “it just gives them another excuse” or “genes are not destiny” or “genes don’t predict the future.” Such diversions miss the point.
The science, the take away from these studies on vasopressin receptors in humans and monogamous voles, is that there are variations in the feelings of each man and woman which are driven by the genes that built them.
Feelings drive us through life. Different genes = different feelings = different actions in identical settings.
Here is an example other than AVPR1A which is well known in genetic/medical circles.
Persons with Parkinson’s Disease are sometimes given drugs which act on the dopamine signaling system. These drugs help many people; however, there are people who dramatically change their behavior after taking those drugs.
A fellow I know was disabled by Parkinson’s. After he began treatment, which helped him walk, etc. he began gambling so much that casinos in Canada began sending limos to his home to pick him up. He also took up with a woman half his age.
When the drug company discovered the relationship between their product and gambling they informed all their customers. He stopped taking the drug, stopped gambling and lost the sweet young thing.
His story though unusual is not rare.
He is different from the majority of drug companies’ other patients in that his dopamine signaling system was constructed from different DNA than those that take the drug but don’t start gambling.
The point is that DNA makes a difference, in our genes, makes a difference in our neurotransmitters and their signaling systems and ultimately in our behaviors.
Take a married attractive guy with two short alleles in the flanking region of AVPR1A. Keep him sober and he is less likely to hook-up with a woman he just met in a bar while on a business trip.
Take his twin – except the twin has two long alleles in that flanking region – and he is more likely, even while sober, to hook-up with a stranger in a bar.
Take the first guy, the one with two short AVPR1A alleles, fill him with liquor and his felt anxieties are flattened – alcohol depresses – he too might go back to the room with a stranger. No gene will make your partner bonk proof against all environmental possibilities.
Genes load the gun; environment pulls the trigger.
check out http://www.theplayergene.com/
or http://www.oraclegenomics.com/
The gene in question is AVPR1A and it codes for a protein called Vasopressin, which is a brain hormone. The same hormone has also been shown to affect monogamy in voles.
In the study, researchers found that men who had one 334 allelic version of the gene were likely to be scored lower by their partners for the strength of the relationship bond. They were also less likely to be married.
Men who had 2 copies of the 334 allele were inclined to remain single, but if they were to get married they would be twice as more inclined to have marital crisis than those men having only one or no copy of the 334 allele.
In addition, the study showed that women married or living with men who had 1 or 2 copies of 334 were less satisfied in their relationship than women married to men without 334.
There is a lot of discussion along the lines of “it just gives them another excuse” or “genes are not destiny” or “genes don’t predict the future.” Such diversions miss the point.
The science, the take away from these studies on vasopressin receptors in humans and monogamous voles, is that there are variations in the feelings of each man and woman which are driven by the genes that built them.
Feelings drive us through life. Different genes = different feelings = different actions in identical settings.
Here is an example other than AVPR1A which is well known in genetic/medical circles.
Persons with Parkinson’s Disease are sometimes given drugs which act on the dopamine signaling system. These drugs help many people; however, there are people who dramatically change their behavior after taking those drugs.
A fellow I know was disabled by Parkinson’s. After he began treatment, which helped him walk, etc. he began gambling so much that casinos in Canada began sending limos to his home to pick him up. He also took up with a woman half his age.
When the drug company discovered the relationship between their product and gambling they informed all their customers. He stopped taking the drug, stopped gambling and lost the sweet young thing.
His story though unusual is not rare.
He is different from the majority of drug companies’ other patients in that his dopamine signaling system was constructed from different DNA than those that take the drug but don’t start gambling.
The point is that DNA makes a difference, in our genes, makes a difference in our neurotransmitters and their signaling systems and ultimately in our behaviors.
Take a married attractive guy with two short alleles in the flanking region of AVPR1A. Keep him sober and he is less likely to hook-up with a woman he just met in a bar while on a business trip.
Take his twin – except the twin has two long alleles in that flanking region – and he is more likely, even while sober, to hook-up with a stranger in a bar.
Take the first guy, the one with two short AVPR1A alleles, fill him with liquor and his felt anxieties are flattened – alcohol depresses – he too might go back to the room with a stranger. No gene will make your partner bonk proof against all environmental possibilities.
Genes load the gun; environment pulls the trigger.
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