More intelligence genes discovered

Scientists have discovered more genes correlated with higher intelligence.

Sudha Seshadri at Boston University and colleagues assessed the cognitive abilities of 705 healthy adults with standard tests and used MRI scans to measure the volume of their brains. The researchers also scanned 100,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms - small variations in the genome sequence - in participants' DNA for links to mental performance.

The strongest links were in the genes SORL, involved in abstract reasoning and the processing of amyloid protein in Alzheimer's disease, and CDH4, which seems to predict brain volume.

If we gave genetic tests to random people of different races, which races would have a higher percentage of high IQ genes, and which races a lower percentage of such genes? I presume that this is an experiment that no one wants to do because the world will punish the bearer of the news.

Comments

[SFG]

Once we know the names of the genes we can do the research ourselves...

[BOS]

"If we gave genetic tests to random people of different races, which races would have a higher percentage of high IQ genes, and which races a lower percentage of such genes?"

You also want to know how big proportion of the IQ variation those genes explain. It's likely to be very small, perhaps 1-5 % of the variation. So it's more ore less irrelevant which groups have more/less of them..

[Half Sigma]

You are probably right about the 1-5% figure, but that hardly means that it's irrelevant.

If one race faced greater evolutionary pressures to be more intelligent when compared to another race, then for just about every single gene that we identify as being correlated with intelligence, we would find that it would appear with greater frequency in the more intelligent race.

[Rain And]

If we gave genetic tests to random people of different races, which races would have a higher percentage of high IQ genes

If you'd like to check how these particular genes are distributed in four different populations (Yoruba blacks, Utah whites, Chinese and Japanese) I'm pretty sure you can already do this yourself at the HapMap website.

http://www.hapmap.org/

You could also take one of the review articles listing many of the candidate genes related to cognitive ability and see how it all adds up.

[The Superfluous Man]

Specific genes like these are only 'proof of principle,' of the possibility of innate racial differences, but little more. Of course, that's a great deal better than the current 'consensus' among the educated classes.

[bbartlog]

which races would have a higher percentage of high IQ genes

Thing is, unless or until you have a complete list of all intelligence-affecting genes and mutations, this information is of dubious value, at least if you're thinking that you want to do an actual interracial intelligence comparison. Because it's possible for two groups to develop entirely different variant alleles to boost intelligence. You might find some SNP associated with increased intelligence in East Asians and find it entirely absent in Yorubans, but this wouldn't rule out the possibility that the latter had other, as yet unidentified mutations that had similar effects.

Who needs genetic tests? People have known for at least 100 years that there are intelligence differences between various races. I could make a guess as to which races have the higher number of "intelligence genes" and which have a lower number. Of course, talking about it is another matter completely. Best to avoid any unpleasantries or uncomfortable truths that may disturb liberals. After all, the No Child Left Behind program will solve this problem by 2014, right?

[Rain And]

You might find some SNP associated with increased intelligence in East Asians and find it entirely absent in Yorubans, but this wouldn't rule out the possibility that the latter had other, as yet unidentified mutations that had similar effects.

This is for single genes. But if we start seeing 20, 30, 40+, genes pointing in the same predicted direction, this is suggestive.

[dobla]

Um, say they found that black (African) people have the lowest amount of these genes, but Torres Islanders/Soloman Islanders had a high amount, similar to Asians...what could one conclude? Phenotypically Soloman Islanders and Africans are ALIKE????

What are your predictions of the IQ differences between Africans and Soloman Islanders?

[SFG]

I wonder what sort of safeguards they've got against people like us doing this sort of research, and what we can do to preemptively circumvent them. Maybe print a map of all gene frequencies in those groups, so that whenever they discover a gene correlated with IQ we can check it off?

[Bob V]

Remember, all, that not all genes need work the same way in all people in all environments. It's entirely possible that the presence of these genes in Asians tends to make them stupid while the opposite effect is seen in all other races.

[Half Sigma]

"It's entirely possible that the presence of these genes in Asians tends to make them stupid while the opposite effect is seen in all other races."

True, but the gap between possible and likely is, in the case, a really huge one.

True, but the gap between possible and likely is, in the case, a really huge one.

Yes, similar to the huge gap between the possibility & likelihood of intelligent extraterrestrial life.

[Half Sigma]

With there being 100 billion galaxies in the universe, I find it hard to believe that there isn't life somewhere out there.

[Rain And]

Well, we've already found (but not replicated) a gene that lowers IQ 20 points in males. It's found in 25% of those in the Asian and white hapmap populations, but not found at all in the black population.

That isn't the predicted direction. It would be nice to get replication because a lot of these associations are unreliable right now. But, like I said, if we start seeing a pattern when these associations start rolling in - say 75% of found genes all pointing in the expected direction - then we've got a confirmed prediction. It would be very easy for anyone with Internet access and a common review article to do this with what we've got right now.