Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity
IntroductionIt has been frequently suggested that overall genomic heterozygosity and, particularly, heterozygosity of loci on the so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which is responsible for the recognition of foreign substances/ pathogens and the recognition of self and non-self, is a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1009962/full |
| _version_ | 1827964167004356608 |
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| author | Martin Fieder Martin Fieder Susanne Huber |
| author_facet | Martin Fieder Martin Fieder Susanne Huber |
| author_sort | Martin Fieder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionIt has been frequently suggested that overall genomic heterozygosity and, particularly, heterozygosity of loci on the so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which is responsible for the recognition of foreign substances/ pathogens and the recognition of self and non-self, is associated with better health and better resistance to infections and parasites. It has further been speculated that such a potentially beneficial heterozygosity can be detected through body odor and facial attractiveness.MethodsOn the basis of genome wide SNP data (713,014 SNPs) of participants from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we therefore investigated whether homozygosity either on the MHC (measured as inbreeding coefficient) or genome-wide (measured as runs of homozygosity and inbreeding coefficient) is associated with rated facial attractiveness.ResultsAlthough we found that the genome-wide average length of homozygous segments and the genome-wide inbreeding coefficient are significantly negatively associated with some measures of facial attractiveness, if corrected for multiple testing, any significant association was no longer formally significant after correction. In addition, the variance in facial attractiveness explained by the genome wide homozygosity is very low (<0.15%). We did not find any significant association between the inbreeding coefficient on the MHC and facial attractiveness.DiscussionWe only find a weak association of genome- wide heterozygosity and facial attractiveness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:11:25Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:11:25Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-56053bf9834548498878c287338d909a2023-04-20T05:55:51ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-04-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.10099621009962Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosityMartin Fieder0Martin Fieder1Susanne Huber2Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Network of Human Evolution and Archeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaReligion and Transformation in Contemporary Society, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology and Network of Human Evolution and Archeological Sciences (HEAS), University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaIntroductionIt has been frequently suggested that overall genomic heterozygosity and, particularly, heterozygosity of loci on the so-called major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which is responsible for the recognition of foreign substances/ pathogens and the recognition of self and non-self, is associated with better health and better resistance to infections and parasites. It has further been speculated that such a potentially beneficial heterozygosity can be detected through body odor and facial attractiveness.MethodsOn the basis of genome wide SNP data (713,014 SNPs) of participants from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we therefore investigated whether homozygosity either on the MHC (measured as inbreeding coefficient) or genome-wide (measured as runs of homozygosity and inbreeding coefficient) is associated with rated facial attractiveness.ResultsAlthough we found that the genome-wide average length of homozygous segments and the genome-wide inbreeding coefficient are significantly negatively associated with some measures of facial attractiveness, if corrected for multiple testing, any significant association was no longer formally significant after correction. In addition, the variance in facial attractiveness explained by the genome wide homozygosity is very low (<0.15%). We did not find any significant association between the inbreeding coefficient on the MHC and facial attractiveness.DiscussionWe only find a weak association of genome- wide heterozygosity and facial attractiveness.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1009962/fullSNPgenome wide homozygosityMHC homozygosityfacial attractivenessruns of homozygosity |
| spellingShingle | Martin Fieder Martin Fieder Susanne Huber Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity Frontiers in Psychology SNP genome wide homozygosity MHC homozygosity facial attractiveness runs of homozygosity |
| title | Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity |
| title_full | Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity |
| title_fullStr | Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity |
| title_short | Facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome–wide heterozygosity |
| title_sort | facial attractiveness is only weakly linked to genome wide heterozygosity |
| topic | SNP genome wide homozygosity MHC homozygosity facial attractiveness runs of homozygosity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1009962/full |
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