The Genetics of Crying

The Genetics of Crying Crying as an emotional response is considered unique to humans and may be hard-wired in our DNA. Why does crying come easily to some people but others find it hard? 23andMe Odds of being a crier: designed a genome-wide association study to search for genes that make people cry easily. XX XY 3.0x more likely than men 2.3x less likely when 60+ 1.7x more likely if mom or dad is a crier 1.5x more likely when 60+ 1.9x more likely if mom is a crier 2.5x more likely if dad is a crier Crying easily has been associated with more serious conditions: People who cry easily are 1.5x more likely to have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar or panic attacks. 23andMe identified 12 genetic factors highly associated with the cries easily phenotype This means that people who identified themselves as crying easily have a very significant genetic component, which is heritable. These [genes] associated with crying also impact: [LRRTM4] [IRX2 + ZNF423] [HSD17B12] [ZNF423] The nervous system: formation of excitatory synapses and highly selective expression Cerebellum development: a critical brain region that is linked to crying Hormone synthesis: specifically estrogens and androgens Joubert syndrome: a rare brain malformation in the cerebellum region affecting balance and coordination (BNC2] [8q22.3] [SDK1] [6q16.1] Susceptibility to Retinal synaptic Bipolar disorder Optic nerve degeneration ovarian cancer connections The 23andMe study results point system, neural processes and hormone synthesis on crying behavior. It may shed light on the causes of more serious mood disorders, like depression and anxiety. the importance of the brain 23andMe References: Matsumoto, Ken, et al. "The prepattern transcription factor Irx2, a target of the FGF8/MAP kinase cascade, is involved in cerebellum formation." Nature neuroscience 7.6 (2004): 605-612. Alcaraz, Wendy A., et al. "Zfp423 controls proliferation and differentiation of neural precursors in cerebellar vermis formation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103.51 (2006): 19424-19429. Parvizi, Josef, et al. "Pathological laughter and crying A link to the cerebellum."Brain 124.9 (2001): 1708-1719. Chaki, Moumita, et al. "Exome Capture Reveals ZNF423 and CEP164 Mutations, Linking Renal Ciliopathies to DNA Damage Response Signaling." Cell 150.3 (2012): 533-548. Labrie, Fernand, et al. "The key role of 178-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases in sex steroid biology." Steroids 62.1 (1997): 148-158. Linhoff, Michael W., et al. "An unbiased expression screen for synaptogenic proteins identifies the LRRTM protein family as synaptic organizers." Neuron 61.5 (2009): 734-749 Song, Honglin, et al. "A genome-vide association study identifies a new ovarian cancer susceptibility locus on 9p22. 2." Nature genetics 41.9 (2009): 996-1000. Wiggs, Janey L., et al. "Common variants at 9p21 and 8q22 are associated with increased susceptibility to optic nerve degeneration in glaucoma." PLOS genetics 8.4 (2012): e1002654. Yamagata, Masahito, Joshua A. Weiner, and Joshua R. Sanes. "Sidekicks: synaptic adhesion molecules that promote lamina-specific connectivity in the retina." Cell 110.5 (2002): 649-660. Mühleisen, Thomas W., et al. "Genome-wide association study reveals two new risk loci for bipolar disorder." Nature communications 5 (2014). Footnote Data calculated based on a genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of more than 650,000 23andMe customers on the 'Cry easily' phenotype. Participants were of primarily European ancestry, and all were consented to research.