FEAR may be in our genes. Two teams of geneticists have discovered a stretch
of DNA that puts terror in the hearts of mice.
They startled hundreds of rodents with mild electric shocks just after
exposing them to a loud sound. After that, the animals were frozen with fear
whenever they were placed in the same chamber or heard the noise. DNA analysis
showed that a region of the mice鈥檚 chromosome 1 contributed to a more extreme
fear response (Nature Genetics, vol 17, p 331 and p 335).
The researchers say that the region probably contains genes that produce
proteins in the fear pathway. 鈥淚t has been very hard to tap into the genetics
behind emotions,鈥� says Jeanne Wehner of the University of Colorado in Boulder,
who led one of the groups. 鈥淭his is a beginning.鈥� The region contains hundreds
of genes, so it could take years before the teams pluck out the cowardly
ones.
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