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A gene has been linked to preterm birth using an approach that focuses on genes that have evolved faster in humans than in other primates.
Louis Muglia at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and his colleagues compared gestation times relative to neonatal size across 20 primate species and found that humans have the shortest gestation time — probably to make the delivery of large-headed babies through narrow birth canals easier. For this to happen, the researchers reasoned that genes regulating birth timing have probably evolved faster in humans. So they looked for genes showing signs of accelerated evolution along the human lineage.
The authors selected 150 genes and analysed their surrounding regions in the genomes of 328 mothers, teasing out one gene, FSHR, with the strongest link to preterm birth.
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Hunting for birth-timing genes. Nature 473, 9 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/473009f
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/473009f
