High and mighty: first common height gene identified by researchers behind 'obesity gen...( Whilst we all know that tall parents...),Health

Whilst we all know that tall parents are more likely to have tall children, scientists have been unable to identify any common genes that make people taller than others. Now, however, scientists have identified the first gene, known as HMGA2, a common variant of which directly influences height.

The difference in height between a person carrying two copies of the variant and a person carrying no copies is just under 1cm in height, so does not on its own explain the range of heights across the population. However, the researchers believe the findings may prove important.

Previous studies have suggested that, unlike conditions such as obesity, which is caused by a mix of genetic and environmental factors so called "nature and nurture" 90% of normal variation in human height is due to genetic factors rather than, for example, diet. However, other than very rare gene variants that affect height in only a small number of people, no common gene variants have until now been identified.

The research was led by Dr Tim Frayling from the Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, Professor Mark McCarthy from the University of Oxford and Dr Joel Hirschhorn from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, US. Dr Frayling and Professor McCarthy were also part of a Wellcome Trust-funded study team that discovered the first common gene linked to obesity in April this year.

Using data from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, the largest study ever undertaken into the genetics underlying common diseases, and the Diabetes Genetics Initiative, in the US, the researchers conducted a genome-wide study of DNA samples from 5,000 people. The findings that variations in the gene HMGA2 make some people taller than others are published online today in the journal Nature Genetics.

Each of us carries two copies of each gene, one from our mother and one from our father. However, each copy can be a variant, or "allele" in the case o
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