The New York Times today finally got around to reporting about Dr. Plomin's
work on a IQ gene that I talked about a few days ago. As I said the marker he
used is just junk DNA but it's in the middle of a gene called IGF2, this
might be the IQ gene or it might be another gene very close to it. IGF2 codes
for a protein with the sexy name "Insulin-Like Growth Factor 2". Not much is
known about this hormone but interestingly another scientist Dr. Randy Jirtle
has independently studied it for years and has had a suspicion it's involved
in the metabolism of the brain, he thinks a link to IQ is plausible.
Dr. Plomin says there are probably about 50 genes responsible for the
difference between the 100 IQ kids and the 160 IQ kids in his study, this is
just the first. He also said that he doubted that any one kid had all 50
genes.
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
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