Epigenetics May Be a Critical Factor Contributing to Homosexuality

Originally posted by Quadrivium
I found this earlier today and found it interesting. It seems that more and more is being discovered about homosexuality.

According to the study, published online today in The Quarterly Review of Biology, sex-specific epi-marks, which normally do not pass between generations and are thus "erased," can lead to homosexuality when they escape erasure and are transmitted from father to daughter or mother to son.

This study has found that the epi-marks that would normally be dropped or "erased" may be the cause of homosexuality.

So what are these epi-marks anyway? The article states the following.....

Epi-marks constitute an extra layer of information attached to our genes' backbones that regulates their expression. While genes hold the instructions, epi-marks direct how those instructions are carried out -- when, where and how much a gene is expressed during development. Epi-marks are usually produced anew each generation, but recent evidence demonstrates that they sometimes carry over between generations and thus can contribute to similarity among relatives, resembling the effect of shared genes.

The article concludes that this study solves the "evolutionary riddle of homosexuality".

The study solves the evolutionary riddle of homosexuality, finding that "sexually antagonistic" epi-marks, which normally protect parents from natural variation in sex hormone levels during fetal development, sometimes carryover across generations and cause homosexuality in opposite-sex offspring. The mathematical modeling demonstrates that genes coding for these epi-marks can easily spread in the population because they always increase the fitness of the parent but only rarely escape erasure and reduce fitness in offspring.

www.sciencedaily.com...

My questions for ATS.....
*With all these studies being done on the causes of homosexuality do you believe that a "cure" can be found?

*If such a "cure" was discovered would many homosexuals be interested it it?

*Should we be looking at all?
Quad

Homosexuality is a lust, nothing more.

reply to post by Fromabove


And heterosexuality by comparison is what then?

Not that I believe homosexuality is only lust, since the term can imply a romantic or sexual attraction to the same sex.

However, when I got mocked and attacked because of the way I move my hands, or spoke my words, was that because of my lust?

But perhaps, firstly, what is wrong with lust?

I think it's gay peoples' lack of a certain (heterosexual) lust, rather than too much lust, that is of importance.