Detected genes associated with academic performance in schools and universities – BBC News

An international team, consisting of 253 scientists who conducted one of the largest genetic studies to date. Experts have identified 74 genetic variants that are associated with learning at school or college.

The genes, we recall, were not a static structure and change all the time. During the mutations that do not always do the genes of “bad”, can change their structure and number of copies. Therefore, different people, and even in the body of one person, may attend different variations (variants) of the same gene.

“This study builds on our previous work, in which we studied 100,000 people and found .. three genetic variants they were associated with the level of education At this time we were able to identify more genetic variants associated with education level As we have expanded the number of participants to 300 thousand people “, -. says study author Daniel Benjamin (Daniel Benjamin).

Scientists have combined the results of 64 studies data set, conducted in 15 different countries. As a result, researchers have identified genetic variants associated with the total person-years of training. It is noted that the analysis included data on people of European descent.

Since the studied genes belonged to people exclusively European origin, it is not known whether these results are true for people from other regions of the world, say, Africa or Asia .

However, the study authors calculated that 74 genetic markers, which are found only determine the 0.43 percent of the total genetic contribution to school performance.

“The fact that individual genetic variants have a very small effect on performance is an important discovery that confirms the findings of our previous work, “- says the scientist. And, he said, to simplify interpretation of the results refer to them as “educational genes” is false.

However, this does not detract from the research results. By themselves, genetic variants, according to scientists, can not predict what will be the work of a man in a school or university, that is, it still depends only on the student.

However, they still make a definite and an important contribution to understanding. According to Benjamin, the genes may influence not only human cognitive abilities, but on his personal qualities, say, persistence and perseverance. These personality traits, in turn, affect the quality and quantity of years spent behind a school desk.

“At the level of education collectively affect the genes and the environment. Genetic variations that we found only responsible for a small proportion of the differences between the parties in the matter of training, “- says Benjamin

at the same time.” The results suggest that the genetic influence on the level of education extends to thousands, if not millions of genetic variants, most of which have not been identified “, – says Benjamin

in addition, the.” tiny genetic differences that we found, in the final analysis, may help scientists understand why some people are more prone to early memory impairment, mental health, than others, “-. said another author of the research, professor brain Institute in Queensland Peter Visser (Peter Visscher)

The scientific results were published in the journal Nature

We add that recently. “Vesti.Nauka” talked about how genes influence the age at which people lose their virginity.