Geneticists, though, have had difficulty identifying specific genes whose variants, known as alleles, cause different predispositions in those possessing different versions.
This suggests that the sorts of predispositions that in people are blamed on fetal testosterone are caused in birds by fetal oestrogen (or, rather, the response to it).That does not, of course, mean the same thing is true in people: 300m years is quite a long time for differences to emerge.
No matter whether there are genetic predispositions to hypertension and obesity, the way to attack most cases of hypertension at their source is not with drugs, but with exercise.Quentin CroftOxford, UK.
Workers are already sometimes hired on the basis of personality tests that try to tease out the very genetic predispositions that biologists are looking for.
If firms understand these predispositions, they can offer diagnostic tests and targeted treatments.
Plugged The roof that costs too much Beware the K-Street conservatives Reprints Related items Erring priests: A policy of sortsJun 6th 2002 A priestly scandal in Boston: Better admit itJan 31st 2002For Cardinal Law, bankruptcy would mean no more legal predispositions where he has to answer awkward questions.
But a book that Mr Gensler coauthored in 2004 might have been a better guide to his predispositions.
One of them, Terrie Moffitt, was responsible for studies that showed how different versions of the gene for one of the brain's enzymes resulted in different predispositions to criminal activity.
This amplifies the effects of genetic predispositions as a child ages.Parental genetic endowment can also affect children who have not, through the vagaries of gamete formation, inherited the relevant DNA directly.
Specific antigens of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes are correlated with human diseases and disease predispositions.
The same dramatic predispositions control Mrs. Warren's Profession, written in 1893 but not performed until 1902 because the lord chamberlain, the censor of plays, refused it a license.
