In another test done on our friends, the mice, we have discovered that with the removal of a certain gene they can alter the sexual preference of female mice.
The gene altered is the Fucose Mutarotase gene(of which they have abbreviated to FucM) is responsible for developing a group of enzymes that aid in development in certain parts of the brain.
This alteration makes females un effected by male advances and makes them attempt to mate with members of its own gender. This study does not show that this same tactic affects male mice.
It works by eliminating a group of enzymes that alters the flow of oestrogen in the mice and consequently develops the brain in the same manner that males develop.
All this study really does is highlight that genetic factors can alter sexual preference in mice, however this by itself does show any relevance to human sexuality.
There is logical reason to come to this conclusion though. The reason that we study mice is that they share enough with us at basic levels to allow for comparisons, this could be one of those things that we share. They have shown similar matters of disease contraction and genetic development, so to say that it is completely unrelated is just as unjustified.
There have been a few studies that have shown that homosexuality is related to brain development, and that the male homosexual brain is much like the female heterosexual brain in humans.
There is a disconnect here between the studies though because this one is different in its basic functioning. The foundation of this experiment is deletion of a specific gene, and preventing the development of normal female attraction to males. While the human study was highlighting that the human brain though being similar in the end result shows nothing on how the alteration in brain development could occur. So that is where the similarities end.
The other issue is that there is no evidence that this gene alteration does occur naturally. Again though, this trait could be passed down recessively somehow, and it could easily be duplicated that way causing female homosexuality to run in families. Thus really only needing it to happen once instead of multiple times.
This rings true with other studies done in the animal kingdom. There was a study done that showed that some fruit filys have a kind of "gender blindness" gene, so that when certain drugs are given to them, the sexual orientation of the flys could be controlled. This gender blindness can then be passed on to the next generation of flies.
I would like to see if this can be attempted with the mice. If there is a way to alter it and make the brain develop genderless and is orientation controlled by chemicals.
This experiment could go a million different directions, so it will be fun keeping tabs on this one.
So even though this is really quite inconclusive, it does lead to very interesting prospects.
For mice article,
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beat...for the old fruit fly article
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,3163...or links to other articles I have written
http://rlwoodsiii.blogspot.com/