Preference For Markers Research Articles

Associations between forensic loci and expression levels of neighboring genes may compromise medical privacy

A set of 20 short tandem repeats (STRs) is used by the US criminal justice system to identify suspects and to maintain a database of genetic profiles for individuals who have been previously convicted or arrested. Some of these STRs were identified in the 1990s, with a preference for markers in putative gene deserts to avoid forensic profiles revealing protected medical information. We revisit that assumption, investigating whether forensic genetic profiles reveal information about gene-expression variation or potential medical information. We find six significant correlations (false discovery rate = 0.23) between the forensic STRs and the expression levels of neighboring genes in lymphoblastoid cell lines. We explore possible mechanisms for these associations, showing evidence compatible with forensic STRs causing expression variation or being in linkage disequilibrium with a causal locus in three cases and weaker or potentially spurious associations in the other three cases. Together, these results suggest that forensic genetic loci may reveal expression levels and, perhaps, medical information.

Condition Dependent and Infection Dependent Mate Preferences in Women: Preferences for Healthy Appearing Men are Associated with General Condition and Measures of Infection

Condition dependent mate choice in females, whereby condition or attractiveness influences preferences for markers of male quality, is seen both in non-humans and humans. There are several possible explanations for such effects. For example, in previous studies of fish it has been postulated that females in poor condition have energetic constraints limiting their choosiness. In this article, preferences for healthy facial appearance were measured in women and related to measures of condition. Questions were associated with two factors: a factor reflecting general health and condition (related to self-ratings of attractiveness, health, and physical fitness) and a factor reflecting experience of and current state of infection (colds per year and current cold). General health and condition were positively related to preferences for healthy appearance in male faces, in line with previously seen condition dependent preferences. However, the measure of current and previous infection was also positively related to preferences for healthy appearance in male faces. While these two findings appear to conflict, in fact, they may reflect different mechanisms at work. Previous explanations, such as competitiveness for mates and/or energetic constraints may explain general condition dependent preferences. In terms of avoiding contagion, however, those most at risk may benefit most from increased attraction to healthy partners: “infection dependent” mate preferences. In this way, general condition may be positively related to preferences for male quality but infection or experience of infection, while associated with a lowering of condition, may also be positively associated with preferences for male quality.

Beauty: In the gonads of the beholder — and the beheld

A growing body of research has shown that women express stronger attraction to more masculine traits when they are tested near ovulation than when tested during other times in the menstrual cycle. Although these effects have been interpreted as increased preferences for markers of elevated testosterone during times in the cycle when conception is most likely, no previous studies have directly demonstrated that women express stronger attraction to higher testosterone men at different times in the cycle. In addition, little research has addressed which hormonal or other physiological mechanisms may regulate temporal shifts in women's attractiveness judgments. In this research, we demonstrate that women with higher estradiol concentrations exhibit stronger preferences for the faces of men with higher testosterone concentrations, and that women's testosterone preference and estradiol curves track one another across days of the cycle. The findings are the first direct demonstration in humans that hormone concentrations in one sex are associated with attraction to cues of hormonal status in the opposite sex. The results support a functional role for estradiol in calibrating women's mating psychology to indices of their current fertility, analogous to similar processes that have been documented in nonhuman species. A strong correlation between estradiol and testosterone preference specifically during the luteal phase further suggests that women's mate preferences may track their fertility between different cycles in addition to being calibrated to the timing of ovulation within individual cycles.