首次发现了与左撇子有关的基因和大脑差异

首次发现了与左撇子有关的基因和大脑差异

For the first time, researchers have been able to highlight specific gene regions that appear to have some influence over left-handedness – and they've also found links to differences in brain structure in those who have these genetic variations, too.

研究人员首次强调了似乎对左撇子有一定影响的特定基因区域，他们还发现，这些基因变异与左撇子大脑结构的差异有关。

It's already been established that whether we're right- or left-handed depends to some extent – around 25 percent – on the genetic code we're born with, but until now scientists hadn't been able to identify the specific areas on the genome responsible.

已经确定的是，我们是右撇子还是左撇子，在某种程度上取决于我们出生时的遗传密码，大约25%，但直到现在，科学家还无法确定基因组上的特定区域。

This new study of around 400,000 individual records in a national UK database goes a long way to doing just that: it found four genetic regions associated with handedness, and three of those were linked to proteins involved in the brain's structure and development.

这项对英国国家数据库中约40万条个体记录的新研究，在这方面走了很长一段路:它发现了与利手性有关的四个基因区域，其中三个与大脑结构和发育相关的蛋白质有关。

These proteins relate to the cytoskeleton, the scaffolding inside cells that's responsible for their construction and function.

这些蛋白质与细胞骨架有关，细胞骨架是细胞内部的支架，负责细胞的结构和功能。

With the help of brain scans of around 10,000 of the participants, the researchers linked the genetic variations with white matter tracts running between language-processing regions. These white matter tracts contain the cytoskeleton of the brain.

在对大约1万名参与者的脑部扫描的帮助下，研究人员将基因变异与语言处理区域之间的白质束联系起来。这些白质束含有大脑的细胞骨架。

"Many researchers have studied the biological basis of handedness, but using large datasets from UK Biobank has allowed us to shed considerably more light on the processes leading to left-handedness," says physician Akira Wiberg.

医生Akira Wiberg说:“许多研究人员已经研究了左撇子的生物学基础，但是使用来自英国生物银行的大型数据集让我们对导致左撇子的过程有了更多的了解。”

"We discovered that, in left-handed participants, the language areas of the left and right sides of the brain communicate with each other in a more coordinated way."

“我们发现，在左撇子参与者中，左右脑的语言区域以一种更协调的方式相互交流。”

That means left handers might have an advantage when it comes to verbal tasks and language skills, Wiberg suggests, though the evidence for that isn't conclusive.

威伯格认为，这意味着左撇子在语言任务和语言技能方面可能具有优势，尽管这方面的证据还没有定论。

Humans are pretty unique as far as the animal kingdom goes in having such an imbalance between those of us who are left-handed and those of us who are right-handed – it's about a 10-90 percent split.

就动物王国里左撇子和右撇子之间的不平衡而言，人类是非常独特的——大约有10- 90%的人是左撇子。

And we know from other animals that cytoskeletal differences – like the coil of a snail's shell – can be influenced by genetics from very early on. The "hallmarks of the future development of handedness" might develop in the womb, the researchers say, though that's only a possibility for now.

我们从其他动物身上了解到，细胞骨架的差异——比如蜗牛壳的螺旋——可以从很早的时候就受到基因的影响。研究人员说，“利手性未来发展的特征”可能会在子宫中形成，尽管目前这只是一种可能性。

While it's still too early to call this a conclusive link between these genes and whether we're left or right-handed, what the research does do is highlight significant associations between the two that further studies can build on.

虽然把这些基因和我们是左撇子还是右撇子联系起来还为时过早，但这项研究确实强调了这两者之间的重要联系，这可以作为进一步研究的基础。

We're finally beginning to make sense of the genetic coding that helps to influence which hand becomes dominant.

我们终于开始理解影响哪只手占优势的基因编码。

It might also help dispel any lingering opinions that being left-handed is somehow unlucky or inferior to being right-handed.

这也可能有助于消除任何挥之不去的观点，即左撇子在某种程度上是不幸运的，或者不如右撇子。

"Here we have demonstrated that left-handedness is a consequence of the developmental biology of the brain, in part driven by the complex interplay of many genes," says one of the team, Dominic Furniss, a plastic surgeon who researches molecular genetics.

研究小组成员之一、研究分子遗传学的整形外科医生多米尼克弗尼斯(Dominic Furniss)表示:“我们已经证明，左撇子是大脑发育生物学的一个结果，部分原因是许多基因的复杂相互作用。”

"It is part of the rich tapestry of what makes us human."

“这是使我们成为人类的丰富多彩的一部分。”

The research has been published in Brain.

这项研究发表在《大脑》杂志上。