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Human genetics

A father's imprint on his daughter's thinking

Nature volume 387, pages 652–653 (1997)Cite this article

One of the puzzles of human gender differences is why boys are more vulnerable than girls to developmental disorders — such as autism — that affect language and social functioning. There has long been a suspicion that this could, in part, be explained by a more general sex difference, whereby women are usually better than men at those aspects of cognition that enable smooth social interactions (‘social cognition’). Although such differences might be acquired, and reflect differing male and female social roles, they might also be part of the in-built biological dimorphism that results from the genetic difference between males and females. This intriguing possibility is explored by Skuse and colleagues1 on page 705of this issue, in a study of cognitive function in Turner's syndrome — a sporadic chromosomal disorder in which all (or part) of one X chromosome is missing. Patients have a female appearance and, usually, normal levels of general intelligence, but they have poorly developed secondary sexual characteristics, and short stature.

Although the mechanism of imprinting is not fully understood, part of the process involves methylation of DNA, which can effectively result in a gene from one or other parent being ‘switched off’. To date there have been no reports of imprinting on the human X chromosome, but the phenomenon does occur in other mammals such as the mouse3. Skuse et al.1 have now tested the hypothesis that imprinting occurs at a gene that influences social cognition by comparing women with Turner's syndrome, whose single X chromosome came from their father, with those whose X chromosome was derived from their mother. In doing so, they have identified the first known case of imprinting on the human X chromosome.

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Figure 1: Females with Turner's syndrome have only one complete X chromosome, which may have come either from their mother (a) or from their father (c).

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  1. Division of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, CF4 4XN, Cardiff, UK

    Peter McGuffin & Jane Scourfield

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  1. Peter McGuffin
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  2. Jane Scourfield
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McGuffin, P., Scourfield, J. A father's imprint on his daughter's thinking. Nature 387, 652–653 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/42588

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