In the Now How About That Dep't: The bonding gene

[dianeduane]

Just reading this article gives me entirely too many ideas for SF stories having to do with scary possible gene therapies… 

A study of Swedish twin brothers found that differences in a gene modulating the hormone vasopressin were strongly tied to how well each man fared in marriage.

"Our main finding was an association between a variant of the vasopressin receptor 1a gene and how strong bonds men reported they had to their partners," said lead researcher Hasse Walum, of the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "Men carrying this variant scored on average lower on a scale measuring the strength of the bond compared to men not carrying this variant."

Women married to men carrying the "poorer bonding" form of the gene also reported "lower scores on levels of marital quality than women married to men not carrying this variant," Walum noted.

…Vasopressin activates the brain's reward system, and "you could say that mating-induced vasopressin release motivates male voles to interact with females they have mated with," Walum said. "This is not a sexual motivation, but rather a sort of prolonged social motivation." In other words, the more vasopressin in the brain, the more male voles want to stick around and mingle with the female after copulation is through. This effect "is more pronounced in the monogamous voles," Walum noted.

NB: this study was done on voles. If you’re human, your mileage might vary.

And this final note:

…it's too early for men to blame their inability to commit on a single gene, although Lucas guesses it's an excuse that's "certainly going to be used."

 

Tags: vasopressin, bonding, gene, genetics, vole, Stockholm

Comments

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

So when they say "marriage made in heaven" they're not kidding, provided you believe said Deity creates each and every one of us.

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

I love reading just an excerpt from an article. At some point, Swedish men just silently turn into voles. I'm not sure if that's a comment on the Swedes or on the voles.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

It's better than turning into rhinoceri[1]. I actually wondered (until I saw the NB) whether 'voles' was some genetic term *g*...

[1] When I was in university the radio station put on a strange French play called "Rhinoceros", in which the inhabitants of a French town changed into rhinoceri. Allegedly this had some deep political meaning, but for me it was memorable for having to produce the sound effect of "cat being trampled by a herd of rhinoceros".

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I meant to post that new. But now you get to see it too! It is that special!

[keristor.livejournal.com]

mating-induced vasopressin release motivates male voles to interact with females they have mated with

I now have this upsetting concept of giant male voles 'interacting' with human women.

Oh gods, it sounds like a script for Torchwood. Nooooo! Do Not Want!

[randysmith]

Quick clarification from the original article: As I read it, the original work was done on voles, but then they did a variant of the research in humans looking at gene/psychology correlations (harder to do in voles :-}). So there is some data directly applicable to humans.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

I can just see the Party of Family Values (use applicable local polirtical entity) suddenly mandating genetic selection for all new pregnancies.

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

This is actually really interesting to me, as both of my sons have an inherited genetic defect (http://diabetesinsipidus.org/4di_familial.htm) that makes their bodies not produce vasopressin properly.

[aaangyl.livejournal.com]

If you liked that, you should read one of Helen Fisher's books. She was talking about vasopressin as the "monogamy molecule" like 15 years ago, and she's a really good nonfic author.

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

I've been talking about the role of vasopressin for years!

[comrade-cat.livejournal.com]

The Large Hadron Rap (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iryBLZCOQ)

I Will Derive! (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P9dpTTpjymE)