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What do Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Paul McCartney and Justin Bieber have in common with Ronald Reagan, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Garland, Fidel Castro and David Bowie? They are all left-handed, a trait shared by roughly 10% of people.But why are some people left-handed while most are righties? That is an area of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/science" target="_blank" rel="noopener">active research</a>, and a new study sheds light on a genetic component of left-handedness in some people. Researchers identified rare variants of a gene involved in controlling the shape of cells and found them to be 2.7 times more common in left-handed people.While these <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/science/natural-science/genetics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic variants</a> account for only a tiny fraction - perhaps 0.1% - of left-handedness, the researchers said the study shows that this gene, called TUBB4B, may play a role in the development of the brain asymmetry that underlies the determination of a dominant hand.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/remains-oregon-teenager-identified-54-years-advanced-genetic-genealogy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">REMAINS OF OREGON TEENAGER IDENTIFIED AFTER 54 YEARS USING ADVANCED GENETIC GENEALOGY</a>In most people, the two halves, or hemispheres, of the brain have slightly different anatomies and are dominant for different functions."For example, most people have left-hemisphere dominance for language, and right-hemisphere dominance for tasks that require directing visual attention to a location in space," said neurobiologist Clyde Francks of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, senior author of the study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications."In most people, the left hemisphere also controls the dominant right hand. The relevant nerve fibers cross from left-to-right in the lower part of the brain. In left-handers, the right hemisphere is in control of the dominant hand. The question is: what causes the asymmetry of the brain to develop differently in left-handers?"TUBB4B controls a protein that gets integrated into filaments called microtubules that provide internal structure for cells. The identification of rare mutations in this gene that are more common in left-handers suggests that microtubules are involved in setting up the brain's normal asymmetries, Francks said.The two cerebral hemispheres start to develop differently in the human embryo, though the mechanism has remained unclear."Rare genetic variants in just a handful of people can pinpoint genes that give clues to developmental mechanisms of brain asymmetry in everyone. TUBB4B could be a good example of this," Francks added.The findings were based on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-breast-cancer-gene-can-predict-likelihood-disease-study-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic data</a> covering more than 350,000 middle-aged to older adults in Britain in a dataset called the UK Biobank. About 11% were left-handed.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/what-determines-size-feet-heres-what-goes-what-can-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WHAT DETERMINES THE SIZE OF OUR FEET? HERE'S WHAT GOES INTO IT — AND WHAT CAN CHANGE IT</a>For most people, the determination of which hand is dominant may come down to chance."We think that most instances of left-handedness occur simply due to random variation during development of the embryonic brain, without specific genetic or environmental influences. For example, random fluctuations in the concentrations of certain molecules during key stages of brain formation," Francks said.Over the centuries, many cultures disparaged left-handedness and tried to force lefties to become right-handed. In English, the word "right" also means "correct" or "proper." The word "sinister" derives from a Latin word meaning "on the left side." And a "left-handed compliment" means an insult masquerading as praise.The prevalence of left-handedness varies in different parts of the world, with lower rates in Africa, Asia and the Middle East compared to Europe and North America, Francks said."This likely reflects suppression of left-handedness in some cultures - making <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/international-left-handers-day-smarter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left-handed kids</a> switch to right-handedness, which also used to happen in Europe and North America," Francks added.The new findings might have relevance in the field of psychiatry. While the overwhelming majority of left-handed people have neither of these conditions, people with schizophrenia are around twice as likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous and people with autism are around three times as likely, Francks said."Some of the genes that function in the developing brain during early life might be involved in both brain asymmetry and psychiatric traits. Our study found suggestive evidence of this, and we have also seen it in previous studies where we looked at more common genetic variants in the population," Francks added.

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published: 2024-04-02 18:35:28.000000000 Z
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 guid: https://www.foxnews.com/science/rare-gene-variant-believed-play-role-understanding-why-people-left-hand-dominant
title: Rare gene variant believed to play a role in understanding why people are left-hand
 dominant
categories:
- 52df87cf-c5c6-51bc-bcb6-2a93df1df4dd
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content: 'What do Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Paul McCartney and Justin
 Bieber have in common with Ronald Reagan, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Garland, Fidel Castro
 and David Bowie? They are all left-handed, a trait shared by roughly 10% of people.But
 why are some people left-handed while most are righties? That is an area of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/science"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">active research</a>, and a new study sheds light
 on a genetic component of left-handedness in some people. Researchers identified
 rare variants of a gene involved in controlling the shape of cells and found them
 to be 2.7 times more common in left-handed people.While these <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/science/natural-science/genetics"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic variants</a> account for only a tiny fraction
 - perhaps 0.1% - of left-handedness, the researchers said the study shows that this
 gene, called TUBB4B, may play a role in the development of the brain asymmetry that
 underlies the determination of a dominant hand.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/remains-oregon-teenager-identified-54-years-advanced-genetic-genealogy"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">REMAINS OF OREGON TEENAGER IDENTIFIED AFTER
 54 YEARS USING ADVANCED GENETIC GENEALOGY</a>In most people, the
 two halves, or hemispheres, of the brain have slightly different anatomies and are
 dominant for different functions."For example, most people have left-hemisphere
 dominance for language, and right-hemisphere dominance for tasks that require directing
 visual attention to a location in space," said neurobiologist Clyde Francks of the
 Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, senior author of
 the study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications."In most
 people, the left hemisphere also controls the dominant right hand. The relevant nerve
 fibers cross from left-to-right in the lower part of the brain. In left-handers,
 the right hemisphere is in control of the dominant hand. The question is: what causes
 the asymmetry of the brain to develop differently in left-handers?"TUBB4B
 controls a protein that gets integrated into filaments called microtubules that
 provide internal structure for cells. The identification of rare mutations in this
 gene that are more common in left-handers suggests that microtubules are involved
 in setting up the brain''s normal asymmetries, Francks said.The two cerebral
 hemispheres start to develop differently in the human embryo, though the mechanism
 has remained unclear."Rare genetic variants in just a handful of people can
 pinpoint genes that give clues to developmental mechanisms of brain asymmetry in
 everyone. TUBB4B could be a good example of this," Francks added.The findings
 were based on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-breast-cancer-gene-can-predict-likelihood-disease-study-finds"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">genetic data</a> covering more than 350,000 middle-aged
 to older adults in Britain in a dataset called the UK Biobank. About 11% were left-handed.<a
 href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/what-determines-size-feet-heres-what-goes-what-can-change"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">WHAT DETERMINES THE SIZE OF OUR FEET? HERE''S
 WHAT GOES INTO IT — AND WHAT CAN CHANGE IT</a>For most people, the
 determination of which hand is dominant may come down to chance."We think
 that most instances of left-handedness occur simply due to random variation during
 development of the embryonic brain, without specific genetic or environmental influences.
 For example, random fluctuations in the concentrations of certain molecules during
 key stages of brain formation," Francks said.Over the centuries, many cultures
 disparaged left-handedness and tried to force lefties to become right-handed. In
 English, the word "right" also means "correct" or "proper." The word "sinister"
 derives from a Latin word meaning "on the left side." And a "left-handed compliment"
 means an insult masquerading as praise.The prevalence of left-handedness
 varies in different parts of the world, with lower rates in Africa, Asia and the
 Middle East compared to Europe and North America, Francks said."This likely
 reflects suppression of left-handedness in some cultures - making <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/international-left-handers-day-smarter"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">left-handed kids</a> switch to right-handedness,
 which also used to happen in Europe and North America," Francks added.The
 new findings might have relevance in the field of psychiatry. While the overwhelming
 majority of left-handed people have neither of these conditions, people with schizophrenia
 are around twice as likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous and people with autism
 are around three times as likely, Francks said."Some of the genes that function
 in the developing brain during early life might be involved in both brain asymmetry
 and psychiatric traits. Our study found suggestive evidence of this, and we have
 also seen it in previous studies where we looked at more common genetic variants
 in the population," Francks added.'
summary: Researchers have linked a rare gene variant involved with controlling the
 shape of cells to the development of the brain asymmetry known for determining a
 dominant hand.
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url: https://www.foxnews.com/science/rare-gene-variant-believed-play-role-understanding-why-people-left-hand-dominant
image: https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/04/931/523/left-handed-gene.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

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