The extraordinary height of Pau Gasol (2.15 meters) or the actor Tim Robbins (1.96 meters) does not depend on a single gene.The number of genetic variants that affect human stature amounts to more than a thousand, according to an international study published in the journalNature, where at the moment “only” 180 are identified.
Theheight is a complex trait, which depends approximately80% to genetics and 20% to environmental factors such as diet. To identify the genes for height, the new study (calledGIANT, ‘giant’ in English) has counted with the participation of 300 researchers, from a hundred institutions from various countries, who have analyzedDNA samples from 185,000 individualslooking for genetic variants or polymorphisms – tiny variations in the nucleotides of the genome. And they have found 180 associated with the size. Some of these genetic variants arerelated to bone mineral densityand with diseases such as osteoporosis, psoriasis, diabetes or obesity.
“It is clear that tall parents have tall children, and short parents tend to have short children,” explains Joel Hirschhorn, from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, co-author of the work. “This article is the first big step in understanding which genetic variants play a role in our differences in height,” he adds. Despite the number of DNA samples analyzed, the authors believe they have only found abouta quarter of the genetic variants that could be identifiedrealistically. ? Finding the remainder will require larger studies and a more detailed analysis of different types of genome variations ,? conclude Hirschhorn and his colleagues.
