Tall tale: scientists unravel the genetics of human 高さ
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - It's no secret that if your dad is tall and your mother is tall, you are probably going to be tall. But fully understanding the genetics of 高さ has been a big order for scientists.
研究員s on Sunday 明かすd what they called the biggest such 熟考する／考慮する to date, 分析するing genome data from more than a ４半期/4分の1 million people to identify nearly 700 genetic variants and more than 400 genome 地域s relating to 高さ.
How tall or short a person becomes is 概算の to be 80 パーセント genetic, with 栄養 and other 環境の factors accounting for the 残り／休憩（する）. The world's people on 普通の／平均（する） have become taller over the past few 世代s because of factors 含むing 改善するd 栄養.
"We 熟考する／考慮する 高さ for two main 推論する／理由s," said Dr. Joel Hirschhorn, a geneticist and pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children's Hospital and the 幅の広い 学校／設ける of Massachusetts 学校／設ける of 科学（工学）技術 and Harvard University.
"For over 100 years, it's been a 広大な／多数の／重要な model for 熟考する／考慮するing the genetics of 病気s like obesity, 糖尿病, 喘息 that are also 原因（となる）d by the 連合させるd 影響（力） of many 遺伝子s 事実上の／代理 together. So by understanding how the genetics of 高さ 作品, we can understand how the genetics of human 病気 作品," he said.
In 新規加入, short stature in childhood is a major 臨床の 問題／発行する for pediatric endocrinologists. Knowing 遺伝子s and their variants that are important for 高さ 結局 may help doctors 診断する children who have a 選び出す／独身 major underlying 原因（となる） for short stature, Hirschhorn 追加するd.
The international team of 研究員s 分析するd data from the genomes of 253,288 people of European 家系, all from Europe, North America and Australia. They perused about 2 million ありふれた genetic variants in these individuals and identified 697 遺伝子 variants in 424 遺伝子 地域s as 関係のある to 高さ.
Many 遺伝子s pinpointed in the 熟考する／考慮する, published in the 定期刊行物 Nature Genetics, are probably important regulators of skeletal growth, but were not 以前 known to be 伴う／関わるd, the 研究員s said.
Some were 関係のある to collagen, a 構成要素 of bone; a 構成要素 of cartilage called chondroitin sulfate; and growth plates, the area of growing tissue 近づく the ends of the 団体／死体's long bones.
The 研究員s said there is much more to learn.
"We've 設立する the genetic variants - the pieces of デオキシリボ核酸 that 変化させる from person to person - that account for 20 パーセント of the genetic 構成要素 to normal variation in 高さ," said geneticist Timothy Frayling of Britain's University of Exeter.
"This compares to a 状況／情勢 in 2007 when we knew 絶対 nothing about the 遺伝子s and 地域s of the human genome 伴う／関わるd in normal 高さ differences にもかかわらず everyone knowing 高さ is very 堅固に genetic."
The team's previous 2010 熟考する／考慮する 伴う／関わるd a smaller number of people and identified 199 genetic variants residing in 180 genome 地域s.
"By 二塁打ing the 見本 size, we 二塁打d the number of 遺伝子 地域s that are connected to 高さ, and 大いに 増加するd by about seven-倍の the number of actual 遺伝子s where we can make a 関係 to the biol ogy of normal skeletal growth," Hirschhorn said. (報告（する）／憶測ing by Will Dunham; editing by Susan Thomas)
