Height Is Only 40pc Hereditary - The Rest Is Nurture

凯伦

Parents worried that they may pass on their short stature totheir children can rest easy as a new study reveals nurture ismore important than nature when it comes to a persons height.

A landmark piece of research has found that more than12，000 genes are responsible for determining how tall a personbecomes， but this hereditary aspect is just 40 percent of the picture.

The other 60 percent is caused by nurture- based traits likeenvironment， upbringing and quality of life.

Analysis of more than 5.4 million people discovered the cul?pable chunks of DNA involved in height determination and foundthem to live in parts of the genome which are responsible for skel ?etal growth.

“Our study identified 12， 111 genetic markers — or single nu?cleotide polymorphisms （ SNPs）— associated with height in morethan five million individuals from participating studies， ”study au?thor Dr Eirini Marouli， associate professor in computational biolo ?gy at Queen Mary University of London， told The Telegraph.

“These explain 40 percent of height variation in individualsof European ancestries and between 10-20 percent in non-Euro?pean populations.”

But she added that genetics and its“complex manifesta?tion”are just one part of the explanation.

“Additional aspects could potentially include：advancementin healthcare， nutrition， lifestyle and environmental factors，”DrMarouli said.

The study， published in Nature， also predicted how tall aperson would become based on their genes alone and was foundto be more accurate than the current method which estimates achilds length by the height of their parents.

担心自己的矮个子会遗传给孩子的父母可 以放宽心了，因为新研究发现，对一个人的身高 而言，营养比遗传更重要。

一项具有里程碑意义的研究发现，影响一个 人身高的基因超过 1.2 万个，然而在决定身高上， 遗传因素只占 40%。

另外 60%取决于环境、养育和生活质量等后 天特性。

这项研究在分析了逾 540 万人的资料后发 现，决定身高的 DNA 片段存在于与骨骼生长有 关的部分基因组中。

该研究的作者、伦敦玛丽女王大学计算生物 学副教授艾利尼 ·马柔里博士告诉《每日电讯 报》：“我们的研究在500 多万参与者中识别出了 12111 个与身高有关的基因标记（单核苷酸多态 性）。”

“这些基因标记解释了欧洲血统者身高差异 的 40%以及非欧洲血统者身高差异的 10-20%。”

但是她也指出，基因与其“复杂表现”只能解 释其中一部分。

马柔里博士称：“其他可能影响身高的方面 包括：医疗进步、营养、生活方式和环境因素。”

这项发表在《自然》上的研究还单独根据基 因预测了一个人的身高，并发现这一预测结果比 根据父母身高预测孩子身高的现有方法更为准 确。

“Traditionally we use family history to predict a childs height， but this isnt a perfect method，”Dr Marouli ex? plained.

“For example， its not very accurate in predicting height differences such as those amongst siblings.”

“Using single nucleotide polymorphisms （ SNPs） ， or markers of changes in our DNA， could have the potential to give a more accurate prediction.”

“This more accurate height prediction could be useful in healthcare. For example， if a child does not reach their pre? dicted height， it could indicate that there might be an underly? ing condition that might be affecting growth， for example， re? lated to hormonal deficiencies.”

“When we combined all the identified genetic variants together into our best polygenic score along with the parental height average that led to an accuracy of more than 54 per? cent.”

“Thus， having a prediction based on genetic changes could potentially provide more accuracy.”

马柔里博士解释道：“传统上我们用家族史来预测孩子的身高，但这个方法并不理想。”

“例如，用这种方法来预测兄弟姐妹的身高差异就不是很准确。”

“通过观测单核苷酸多态性或基因标记的变化则可能会给出更准确的预测结果。”

“提高身高预测的准确性对于医疗保健很有用。举例来说，如果一个孩子没有达到预期身高，则可能意味着存在影响长高的潜在因素，比如激素缺乏。”

“如果我们把识别出的所有基因变量与最佳的多基因评分相结合，再综合考虑父母的平均身高，对孩子身高的预测准确度则可以提高到54%以上。”

“因此，根据基因变量来做出的身高预测可能会更准确。”