Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Sleepwalking, 3

Can sleepwalking be hereditary?

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine explored the theory that genetics plays a role in the sleep disorder of “sleepwalking.” To do this, they went on a genome-wide search and studied the DNA of a large family of sleepwalkers. Interestingly, they discovered that there was a DNA difference between sleepwalkers and non-sleepwalkers. They discovered that all of the sleepwalkers in the family studied had a specific genetic code that the non-sleepwalkers did t possess. Those individuals with the specific genetic code had a 50 percent chance of passing it on to the next generation. The mutated gene appears to be located in chromosome 20. Now the task will be to identify the exact location of the mutated gene.

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