This Just In

Women are different than men.

All joking aside, the report has some interesting findings;

Scrutinizing more than 23,000 genes to measure their expression level in male and female tissue, the researchers found a direct correlation between gender and the amount of gene expressed.

In fact, more than half of the inspected genes have shown striking and measurable differences in expression patterns between males and females, the researchers reported.

Even in the same organ, the researchers identified scores of genes that varied in expression levels between the sexes. Gender consistently influenced the expression levels of thousands of genes in the liver, fat and muscle tissue.

Earlier studies have identified roughly 1,000 sex-biased genes in the liver and brain, but the new study is the first to uncover a gender difference in gene expression in fat and muscle tissue.

The gender differences in gene expression also varied by tissue. Affected genes were typically those most involved in the organ’s function, suggesting that gender influences important genes with specialized roles, not the rank-and-file.

In the liver, for example, the expression of genes involved in drug metabolism differed by sex. The findings mean that male and female livers function the same, but work at different rates.

“Our findings in the liver may explain why men and women respond differently to the same drug,” said Jake Lusis, co- investigator and professor of human genetics.

It certainly strengthens the argument that males-only drug and health studies are inadequate.

FILED UNDER: Health, Science & Technology
Kate McMillan
About Kate McMillan
Kate McMillan is the proprietor of small dead animals, which has won numerous awards including Best Conservative Blog and Best Canadian Blog. She contributed nearly 300 pieces to OTB between November 2004 and June 2007. Follow her on Twitter @katewerk.

Comments

  1. Herb says:

    This is not news or new to any guy.

    Better yet, ask any guy that is married.

  2. Can we get the research done on the differences in the brain? While the fat cell gene difference is amusing (Gee honey, I don’t know why you can’t eat as much ice cream as I do with out gaining weight, it must be something in your genes), lets get to something that can really impact our lives (and cause liberals at Harvard to have a meltdown).