Do you have two left feet? People struggling to keep pace in time may be to blame for their GENS, the study shows
- Experts have found that our ability to move in time at a fast pace is related to our genes
- They conducted a study to find common genes associated with rhythm
- They identified 69 different genes related to the ability to synchronize rhythms
- Many were expressed in the brain, suggesting a link to brain development
By Fiona Jackson for Mailonline
Posted: 17:06, 16 June 2022 | Updated: 5:06 PM, June 16, 2022
Are your left two feet embarrassed? Blame it on your rhythmically challenged ancestors!
Having a good rhythm and being able to move in time to the rhythm is explained at least in part by our genes, according to a study.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne have identified 69 different genetic variants related to the ability to keep time at a pace.
Many of these genes were expressed in the brain, including some also related to depression, schizophrenia, and developmental delay.
The research, published today in Nature Human Behavior, states that these links suggest that rhythm has a biological connection with brain development.
The musicians involved in the study tend to have more of these genetic variants that suggest they are important for broader musicality.
Having a good rhythm and being able to move in time to the rhythm is explained at least in part by our genes, according to a study (stock image)
Examples of tests completed by study participants to help assess their pace
WHAT IS A GENOMA?
The genome is the complete set of DNA instructions found in a cell
In humans, the genome consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes located in the nucleus of the cell, as well as a small chromosome in the mitochondria of the cell.
A genome contains all the information needed for an individual to develop and function
The first decoding of a human genome, completed in 2003 as part of the Human Genome Project, took 15 years and cost 2.25 billion pounds ($ 3 billion).
To get their results, the researchers first asked participants to complete a “self-report” where they said if they thought they could keep time at a pace, before measuring their perception of rhythm through a task.
They then studied the genomes of 606,825 individuals using 23andMe data to find common genes associated with rhythm synchronization.
The results were then validated to see if the rhythm synchronization markers found in the study would differentiate self-identified musicians from non-musicians.
Finally, the team looked for any genetic correlation between rhythm synchronization and other traits.
They found that the “heritability” of the genes that determine rhythm was between 13% and 16%, similar to estimates of other complex traits.
Heritability is a measure of how differences in people’s genes explain differences in their traits, which are not explained by the environment or chance.
This was enriched for genes expressed in brain tissues, further suggesting that genes expressed by the central nervous system are related to rhythm.
Genetic correlations were found with respiratory function, motor function, processing speed, and chronotype: the natural inclination toward a particular sleep-wake cycle.
This suggests that they share genetic architecture with rhythm synchronization.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne have identified 69 different genetic variants related to the ability to keep pace with time (stock image)
Scientists have previously discovered that the “perfect tone” may also be in the genes, rather than something you can learn.
The perfect pitch is the ability to recognize the pitch of a note played or to produce any given note by singing or with an instrument.
It’s so rare that only one in 10,000 people has it, but since they’re almost always musicians, it’s easier to find them among orchestras and singers.
Researchers at the University of Delaware found that musicians with the musical gift shared by Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach have an auditory cortex that is approximately 50% larger than those that do not.
But it’s probably not that music training magnifies the part of the brain that processes sound.
When researchers scanned the brains of similar musicians who had trained for more than a decade, they were the same size as the auditory cortex as someone who had never picked up a musical instrument.
This suggests that music training does not influence the size of the auditory cortex, and that an increased, and the resulting perfect tone, could be the result of genetics.
The perfect tone is so rare that only one in 10,000 people has it, but since they are almost always musicians, it is easier to find them among orchestras and singers. Beethoven (left) and Bach (right) and are among the musical geniuses blessed with skill
This primate has rhythm! “Singing” lemurs in Madagascar have a natural ability to keep pace just like humans, according to study
One study found that Madagascar’s critically endangered “singing” lemurs, Indri indri, have a natural ability to keep pace, as do humans.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the University of Turin studied indri songs in the rainforests of the island country.
They discovered that the strange weeping songs of lemurs have the same kind of universal and categorical rhythms that are found in human musical cultures.
Outside of humans, having rhythm is a rare trait in mammals, although it can be found elsewhere in the animal kingdom, perhaps most notably in songbirds..
Read more here
One study found that Madagascar’s critically endangered “singing” lemurs, Indri indri, have a natural ability to keep pace, as do humans. In the photo: an indri from Madagascar