Homosexuality via canalized sexual development: A testing protocol for a new epigenetic model |
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| Authors: | William R. Rice Urban Friberg Sergey Gavrilets |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California, , Santa Barbara, CA, USA;2. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, , Uppsala, Sweden;3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Mathematics, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), University of Tennessee, , Knoxville, TN, USA |
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| Abstract: | We recently synthesized and reinterpreted published studies to advance an epigenetic model for the development of homosexuality (HS). The model is based on epigenetic marks laid down in response to the XX vs. XY karyotype in embryonic stem cells. These marks boost sensitivity to testosterone in XY fetuses and lower it in XX fetuses, thereby canalizing sexual development. Our model predicts that a subset of these canalizing epigenetic marks stochastically carry over across generations and lead to mosaicism for sexual development in opposite‐sex offspring – the homosexual phenotype being one such outcome. Here, we begin by outlining why HS has been under‐appreciated as a commonplace phenomenon in nature, and how this trend is currently being reversed in the field of neurobiology. We next briefly describe our epigenetic model of HS, develop a set of predictions, and describe how epigenetic profiles of human stem cells can provide for a strong test of the model. |
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| Keywords: | epigenetics gonad‐trait discordance homosexuality |
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