Long and short of it: UQ scientists identify gene that makes you grow tall
Predicting a child’s height will be more accurate than ever before with a new study led by Australian scientists that uncovered important genetic information.
University of Queensland researcher Dr Loic Yengo is part of a team that has discovered how to more accurately predict how tall a child will grow. (Image: Twitter)
Dr Loic Yengo and Professor Peter Visscher from University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience have worked with 600 researchers, including from Harvard University and Osaka University, in one of the largest-ever genome-wide studies published in the respected journal Nature.
The research analysed data from 5.4 million people around the world and uncovered 12,000 genetic variants influencing height.
“Eighty per cent of height differences between people are determined by genetic factors,” Yengo said.
“The 12,000 variants that we found explain 40 per cent of height differences, meaning we’ve opened the door for DNA to be used to predict height more accurately than ever before.”
Yengo explained that a child’s height is normally predicted using the average height of their two biological parents, but using this newly unlocked genomic data paediatricians will be able to get a better estimate.
“It will put parents’ minds at ease if children are growing as their genes predict, or it will trigger further medical investigation and help pick up potential issues sooner,” he said.
The findings crucially could also be used in police investigations to predict height from a suspect’s DNA sample at a crime scene.
Yengo said one million people were of non-European descent which was higher than usual for genome studies.
