Thanks Dad: Attractiveness is Hereditary
November 28th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Brad Pitt, George Clooney and fruitflies. They all have something in common: good genes. A new study reports attractive male fruitflies can pass their attractive traits on to their male offspring. And the trend may hold true for other species, too.
Researchers at the University of Exeter in Cornwall, England observed the mating behavior of fruitflies. They matched males and females together at random to see how long it took for the pairs to mate. The length of time it took them to mate ranged from two minutes to two hours. Female fruitflies must make themselves available to mate, so males cannot force the process. Researchers used the time taken for the pairs to mate as an indication of the maleâs perceived attractiveness by the female.
Researchers compared these times with those of the fliesâ sons. They found a correlation between father and offspring mating times, suggesting to them attractiveness is hereditary.
âAttractiveness probably canât be defined by individual characteristics, so there is no single physical attribute that female fruitflies are looking for in a mate. However, there is clearly a benefit to females in having sexy sons that are more likely to attract a mate and produce offspring,â David Hosken, Ph.D. of the University of Exeter, was quoted as saying.
Now that a genetic link has been established within the fruitfly population, researchers believe this trend could translate to other species as well — including humans.
âItâs possible that attractiveness is hereditable across the animal kingdom. It could even be the case in humans that the sexiest dads also have the most desirable sons,â Dr. Hosken said.
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SOURCE: Current Biology, 2007;17:959-960