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Apparently, there exists a much more in common with our friends than you?may think. New research says friends who aren’t related biologically continue to be similar to each other genetically.
Two researchers, who published their findings within the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined nearly 2 million gene variation markers according to data from the Framingham Heart Study. From that data, they studied nearly 2,000 people and compared pairs of unrelated friends with pairs of unrelated strangers.
“Looking over the whole genome,” said study co-author Prof. James Fowler inside a statement, “We have more DNA that is similar to the people we pick as friends than we do with strangers in the same population.” Fowler is professor of medical genetics at UC North park.
In fact, the researchers found that friends are as “related” in terms of genetics, as say fourth cousins or people who share great-great-great grandparents. That translates to about 1 percent of our genes, according to the research.
That 1 % may seem small to the average person, but it is a significant number in terms of genetics. “Most people don’t know who their fourth cousins are,” said study co-author Prof. Nicholas Christakis. “Yet we are somehow, among an array of possibilities, managing to select as friends those who resemble our kin,” explained Christakis, professor of sociology, evolutionary medicine and medicine at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
Research also showed that genes found to be similar between friends appear to be evolving faster than the others. Researchers suggested that the social environment itself serves as an evolutionary force.
“The paper also lends support to the look at human beings as ‘metagenomic,’ not just with regards to the microbes within us but also to folks who surround us,” said Christakis.
“It appears as if our fitness depends not only on our own genetic constitutions, but additionally on the genetic constitutions of our friends,” he added.
