Reprogenetic News Roundup #12

NYT Mag on Down syndrome and eugenics, Japanese population strategy, Macron calls for "demographic rearmament," heritability of subcortical volumes, OECD data on top biotech countries...

Japanese Prime Minister Fukio Kishida receiving a proposal from the Population Strategy Council to halt demographic decline in Japan.

Welcome to the latest issue of the Reprogenetic News Roundup! We have a new “Population Policies & Trends” section to highlight the macro implications and political debates around reproduction and reprogenetic technologies. Highlights from this week’s edition:

• Repro/genetics

  • Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses whether elective abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome is “eugenics” in the New York Times Magazine.

• Population Trends & Policies

  • Japan’s Population Strategy Council proposes “80-million nation” plan to stem population decline to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

  • French President announces upcoming “great plan” against infertility as part of “demographic rearmament” efforts.

• Genetic Studies

  • Heritability of subcortical volumes (multiethnic cohort study).

  • Orchid Health preprint study finds whole-genome sequencing of embryos’ DNA concords with that of the subsequently born child.

  • The surprising connection between finger length ration and psychopathological traits.

• Further Learning

  • Max Beilby reviews Michael Muthukrishna’s A Theory of Everyone.

  • OECD data on top-performing nations in biotech

Repro/genetics

“Does prenatal testing for Down Syndrome amount to eugenics?” (New York Times Magazine)

• Ethicist Kwame Anthony Appiah responds to a reader concerned about the possibility and ethics of aborting their wife’s fetus if it has Down syndrome.

• Appiah argues: “‘Eugenics,’ of the sort that rightly alarms us, generally connotes population-level policies, especially with state backing.”

• However, he argues other “effort[s] to produce babies of a certain kind” are morally acceptable, such as a religious community encouraging fertility, a husband and wife using preimplantation testing to avoid transmitting a disease, or a woman choosing a sperm donor “because he seemed healthy and psychologically well-adjusted.”

• Appiah argues that such actions and individuals choosing to abort a fetus with Down syndrome are not “eugenics” because these do not aim “to affect our common genetic stock” or common gene pool.

• Several U.S. states ban abortion because of a Down-syndrome diagnosis and the most accurate tests of chromosomal abnormalities may not yield results until after the 20th week, by which time many states forbid abortion.

More on repro/genetics:

• “In vitro gametogenesis and the evolution of parenting: Exploring new frontiers in reproduction and family structure” (Parrhesia)

• “Using DNA to explore health and family connections” (23andMe blog)

• “Startup can now screen IVF embryos for 1000+ diseases” (Freethink)

• “What can we learn from dog eugenics?” (Unz Review/Steve Sailer)

Population Trends & Policies

“Japan’s Population Strategy Council proposed ‘80 Million Nation’ initiative” (Stop Population Decline)

• Japan’s Population Strategy Council has outlined a plan to stabilize the nation’s population entitled “Population Vision 2100: Towards a stable and growing nation of 80 million people.”

• The plan, which was presented to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, aims to prevent the population from declining to a projected 63 million by 2100.

• Recommendations include:

  • Rejecting the United Nations’ concept of “replacement immigration” as “unrealistic” and raising “serious concerns about the stability of society.” At the same time, a comprehensive strategy for permanent foreign residents for work purposes should be developed.

  • Using evidence-based policymaking to support fertility, with support for research to verify the effectiveness of pro-natalist policies.

  • Creating a “Population Strategy Promotion Headquarters” within the Cabinet to plan and implement population strategies, reporting directly to the Prime Minister.

• The plan calls for a society “with a stable structure for the future, where the current generation can pass on society and the region to future generations, and where there is solidarity across generations. Furthermore, in the international community, we can expect to continue to exist as a nation that has a strong presence and appeal in various aspects, including politics, economy, and culture, and is capable of making international contributions.” (Machine translated.)

“Demographic rearmament”: Emmanuel Macron announces creation of great plan against infertility (TF1)

• French President Emmanuel Macron announced his government is working on a “great plan to fight against the scourge [of infertility] to enable demographic rearmament.” He called this challenge “the taboo of the century.”

• Macron also announced a new six-month “birth leave” which would replace and be better compensated than parental leave (which only provides €429 per month).

• The bioethics law of 2021 had called for a national plan against infertility.

• In France as in most other developed countries, one in four couples desiring a child are unable to achieve pregnancy after 12 months of attempts.

• Male and female infertility is steadily increasing, now affecting 3.3 million French people.

• According national statistics office (INSEE), the number of births fell by 6.6% in France in 2023, falling under 700,000 for the first time since World War II.

More on population trends and policies:

• “US birth rates are at record lows – even though the number of kids most Americans say they want has held steady” (The Conversation)

• “Families will change dramatically: Recent study shows evolution of kinship structures through 2100” (Max Planck Society)

  • In 1950, a 65-year-old woman had an average of 41 living relatives. By 2095, a woman of the same age will have 25.

• “The Iron Triangle of Family Policy” (American Affairs Journal)

• “Would you have a baby if you won the lottery? One of the most popular explanations for declining fertility may be wrong” (The Atlantic)

Genetic Studies

“Heritability estimation of subcortical volumes in a multi-ethnic multi-site cohort study” (bioRxiv)

• Heritability of regional subcortical brain volumes (rSBVs) describes the role of genetics in middle and inner brain development. rSBVs are highly heritable in adults but are not characterized well in adolescents.

• The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (ABCD), taken over 22 US sites, provides data to characterize the heritability of subcortical struc-tures in adolescence.

• The proposed approach yielded heritability estimates similar to previous results derived from single-site studies. The cerebellum cortex and hippocampus were the most heritable regions (> 50%).

• The cerebellum cortex is notably involved in nervous communication with the rest of the body, speech, and movement. The hippocampus has a major role in learning and memory.

“Concordance of whole-genome amplified embryonic DNA with the subsequently born child” (medRxiv)

• Before implantation subsequent to in vitro fertilization (IVF), the current options for Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) are PGT for Aneuploidy (PGT-A) and, if clinically indicated, PGT for monogenic conditions (PGT-M). A more comprehensive approach involves PGT whole genome sequencing (PGT-WGS).

• This preprint study (not yet peer reviewed) by Orchid Health for the first time compared PGT-WGS results against the genome of the subsequently born child.

• The study shows high levels of concordance (both in sensitivity and precision) in exome variant calls between amplified embryonic DNA and sequenced fetal cord blood. This concordance was higher when filtering against 1300 targeted monogenic conditions implicated in birth defects, neurodevelopmental disorders, and hereditary cancer. PGT-WGS could also identify new genetic variants (mutated and not inherited from either parent).

• The authors conclude this approach showcases PGT-WGS’s capability to identify genetic variants not explicitly targeted for monogenic screening.

“Surprising connection found between finger length ratios and psychopathological traits” (PsyPost)

• Researchers have found a link between the relative lengths of index and ring fingers and certain psychopathological personality traits, including antisocial behaviors and substance use disorders.

• Previous studies have suggested that the ratio of the length of the index finger (2D) to the ring finger (4D), commonly known as the 2D:4D ratio, might be an indicator of various behavioral and personality traits. This curious ratio is believed to be influenced by the levels of testosterone and estrogen a fetus is exposed to in the womb. The higher the testosterone relative to estrogen, the longer the ring finger compared to the index finger.

• “The topic is interesting, because the relation of the lengths of index finger (2D) and ring finger (4D) is one of the most robust biological markers formed during the prenatal stage with a remarkable impact later on an adult’s behavior,” said study author Serge Brand of the University of Basel and Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences.

• The researchers recruited 80 participants for their study, divided into two main groups: 44 individuals with clinical diagnoses (25 with Amphetamine Use Disorder [AUD], 10 with Antisocial Personality Disorder [ASPD], and 9 with both disorders) and 36 healthy controls.

• Psychological assessments included measures of Dark Triad traits (a combination of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), vulnerable narcissism, and intolerance of uncertainty.

• The researchers discovered that participants from the clinical group had significantly lower 2D:4D ratios compared to the healthy control group. This indicates that those with AUD, ASPD, and particularly those with both conditions, tend to have longer ring fingers relative to their index fingers.

• “We were surprised to observe such a linear association between higher symptoms of psychopathology and lower 2D:4D-ratios,” Brand told PsyPost. “That is to say: The more an adult participant had signs of psychopathology, the more it appeared that this adult has been exposed to higher testosterone concentrations and lower estrogen concentrations during the prenatal period of life.”

• The study was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

More on genetic studies:

• “Beyond the factor indeterminacy problem using genome-wide association data” (Nature Human Behaviour)

• “Genetic map makers: Study identifies genes involved in healthy aging” (Forbes)

• “Groundbreaking study uncovers hundreds of genetic markers linked to insulin resistance” (News Medical)

• “The causal relationship of female infertility and psychiatric disorders in the European population: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study” (BMC Women’s Health)

Further Learning

“The cultural evolution revolution: Inside A Theory of Everyone, by Michael Muthukrishna” (Darwinian Business)

• Organizational psychologist Max Beilby reviews a new book by Michael Muthukrishna on evolutionary theory can unify our understanding of human behavior, culture, and society.

• Muthukrishna suggests Dual Inheritance theory as the unifier. This is the idea that human biology and behavior are influence by two lines of inherited information: genetic and cultural. This is also known as gene-culture coevolution.

• The book also discusses the benefits and risks of diversity.

Source: Precedence Research

“The top-performing countries in biotechnology (according to the OECD)” (La Biotech)

• The OECD recently published an update on key biotechnology indicators showing the top-performing countries in the field.

• The OECD’s visualization tool is rather finicky but can generate some instructive charts.

Number of international patents (PCT) in biotech.

Biotech R&D intensity in the business sector, % of business R&D.

• In short, the United States has a decisive lead in biotech worldwide, but China is catching up and nations such as the United Kingdom and France are also strong performers.

• Smaller nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, and Denmark also punch well above their weight, with sometimes astonishingly high prioritization of biotech R&D.

• With the rise of genomics and gene editing, biotech is expected to have broadening applications for food, industry, and health, in addition to being the foundation for novel reprogenetic technologies.

Other biotech and evolution stories:

• Report of the U.S. National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology: We’re on the brink of a biotech “revolution” (Bio.News)

• “Humans may have influenced evolution of dogs’ eye colour, researchers say” (The Guardian)

• “World’s 2nd successfully cloned Przewalski’s horse gives hope to endangered species” (Spectrum News 1)

• “Cloned rhesus monkey lives to adulthood for first time” (Nature)

• “Game of clones: Science is immortalizing Argentina’s top polo horses” (Washington Post)

• “How the FDA decimated the entire biotech sector of genetically engineered animals — and what needs to be done to revive it” (Genetic Literacy Project)

• “Giant space rock made Earth’s ocean boil but also helped early life” (Washington Post)

• “15 leaps forward in our understanding of human evolution in 2023” (Ancient Origins)

• “The creationist’s guide to evolutionary psychology” (Muslim Skeptic)

• “New research suggests sexual jealousy and mating strategy shape support for feminine honor” (PsyPost)

• “New research sheds light on the signaling function of women’s makeup application” (PsyPost)

Disclaimer: The Genetic Choice Project makes every effort to include only reputable and relevant news, studies, and analysis on reprogenetics. We cannot fact-check the linked-to stories and studies, nor do the views expressed necessarily reflect those of the Genetic Choice Project.