Daily Mail - 30.08.2019

Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019 Page 3
QQQ

from the Broad Institute in the

US, said: ‘This study disproves the

notion that there is a so-called

gay gene and disproves the notion

that sexual behaviour is a choice.’

He added: ‘We also found that

it’s effectively impossible to pre-

dict an individual’s sexual behav-

iour from their genome.

‘Genetics is less than half of this

story for sexual behaviour but it’s

still a very important contributing

factor.’ The study found an indi-

vidual’s genes have less influence

on their sexuality than their height

or educational ability.

Dr Neale, a statistical geneticist,

said the study was ‘reassuring’ for

those who fear that there might

one day be attempts to edit DNA.

He said: ‘The genetics are

just too complicated and biology

and the environment are both

involved.’ Scientists combed data-

base information for common

genetic variations in people

who had slept with someone of

the same sex.

But they could not find the

genetic marker inherited from a

mother through the X chromo-

some that sparked the theory of a

‘gay gene’ after being found by US

geneticist Dean Hamer in 1993.

Dr Hamer himself said at the

time that a single gene was too

simple an explanation. And the

new study, published in the jour-

nal Science, found only five genes

with a significant link to being gay.

Together, these explain 1 per cent

of someone’s sexuality, and thou-

sands of further genes combined

are needed to have a larger effect.

The study did find a potential

genetic link between homosexual-

ity and baldness in men, however,

which might suggest sex hor-

mones important in hair loss also

affect sexuality.

EVEN for sisters, the bond between

them has clearly always been close.

A picture from their childhood shows

Mary and Stella McCartney squeezing

inside a T-shirt together – and it seems that

Sir Paul McCartney’s daughters remain just

as inseparable today.

Fashion designer Stella, 47, shared the T-

shirt photograph on social media to mark

Mary’s 50th birthday on Wednesday. She

wrote: ‘Celebrating this soulmate’s birth 50

years ago today. Mary, I love you more than

you will ever know, more than I can even put

into words. You’re with me every single day...

A true stellar sister! x Stella’

Another family photo she shared showed

the young sisters wearing matching party

dresses with large polka-dot bows in their

hair. Mary replied to his sister’s Instagram

post: ‘Love you so much little sis.’ This

week Mary spoke to Thailand Tatler about

growing up with famous parents – her

vegan meals, including vegetarian sausages,

burgers, meatballs and pies.

Mary, now a photographer and vegetarian

cookery writer, said: ‘I’d worked with mum

on her cookbooks and the food range from

very early on. When she was writing her

cookbooks I’d help edit them; I’d help test

the recipes. And with the company... day to

day, I had contact with the people working

on it. I’d go to the factory and help with

product development.’

Stella also displays the influence of her

upbringing in her role as a world-renowned

designer, refusing to use fur or leather in

her fashions. Sir Paul has another daughter,

Beatrice, 15, with his second wife, Heather

Mills, 51, whom he divorced in 2008. He

married Nancy Shevell, 59, in 2011.

‘Mum and dad said we

were going vegetarian’

Macca’s girls, inseparable as

children – and still close today

Special bond:

Mary, left, and

Stella McCartney

in a family photo

from the 1970s

By Alisha Rouse

Showbusiness Correspondent

Bow belles: Mary and Stella.

Below, the sisters with

their ex-Beatle father Sir Paul

There is no single ‘gay

gene’, say scientists

By Victoria Allen

Science Correspondent

SCIENTISTS have ruled

out the existence of a single

so-called ‘gay gene’.

The largest ever genetic study

into sexuality found no evi-

dence of DNA material that

was entirely responsible for

homosexuality.

It could overturn a theory based

on a 1993 study that found a

genetic marker in gay men.

Experts now say thousands of

genes are involved in sexuality –

and even then their influence may

be no more than 25 per cent.

The environment that people

grow up in is likely to be more

important than DNA. Research-

ers sequenced the genes of more

than 470,000 people, principally

taken from the UK Biobank

genetic database and DNA testing

website 23andMe. Dr Benjamin

Neale, a co-author of the study

‘It’s just too

complicated’

I GET BY WITH

THE HELP OF MY

(

LITTLE

)

FRIEND

mother was the ex-Beatle’s first wife Linda,

a celebrated US photographer and vegetar-

ian, who died from breast cancer in 1998. As

well as Mary and Stella, the McCartney

household included their younger brother

James, now a 41-year-old musician, and

Heather, now 56, Linda’s daughter from a

previous relationship.

Mary said: ‘When I was very young, my

mum and dad sat us down and said to us,

“We’ve made a decision that we’re going to

become vegetarian. It’s your decision if you

want to eat meat when you’re out, but we

won’t be cooking meat in the house.”

‘My mum and dad would challenge each

other and say, “What are we going to cook

to fill that gap in the centre of the plate

where the meat was?”’

Her mother developed such a repertoire of

meat-free dishes that she established Linda

McCartney Foods.

The brand continued after her death and

still produces prepared vegetarian and