2005 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript
This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2005. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.
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How do scientists go about searching for genes associated with certain human behaviors? Do these behavioral genetics studies hold any water with the molecular biologists? Would you consider these really separate disiplines or are they examples of any serious research efforts with an intergrated approach?
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Don Hadley, M.S., C.G.C.: Identifying genes asociated with human behavior utilize the same basic approaches as those used for identifying more medically focused diseases such as Huntington disease or Cystic Fibrosis. Therefore, the approaches used are not questioned.
Behavioral conditions challenge scientists to begin to develop approaches that are able to consider the contributions of more than one gene as well as contributions from the enviroment. From that standpoint, molecular biologists are watching the efforts of those studying human behavior closely since they are beginning to be asked to address common medical conditions that have "complex" (both genetic and environmental) causes.
In summary, I see them as complementary approaches that will mutually benefit each other.
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