類は友を呼ぶ？ ― endowment

「類は友を呼ぶ」、と昔よく母親に諭されました。悪ガキには悪たれ小僧が、成績のいい人間にはそれなりの取り巻きが集まる、その程度の意味に解していました。

本日のUSA Today紙によると、「類は友を呼ぶ」には遺伝学的な根拠がある、ということになります。


The idea that we choose our mates based on their genes isn't news, but researchers in San Diego now have evidence that we might also be choosing our friends by their genetic endowment as well.

"We're asking a much broader question -- how and why do we make friends," says James Fowler, who studies social networks at the University of California, San Diego and first author on the paper published in this week's edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers looked at six genotypes from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test for genetic similarity between friends. They found that when they mapped friendship networks, some of the genotypes clustered together.

In the case of the gene DRD2, which is associated with drinking behavior, friends were more likely to have friends who shared the gene. Another, CYP2A6, was linked to the trait of 'openness' in one paper and is also linked to the ability to process foreign substances. For an unknown reason, some friendship groups tended to avoid it.
(Elizabeth Wiese. Genetics plays a role in who we choose as friends. USA Today. January 17, 20111.)


今日の単語、"endowment"は、”資質”とか”天分”という訳語が英和辞書に見えます。この記事では、"genetic endowment"という表現が使われていますが、”資質、天分”の中でも極めて遺伝的要因が大きいということなのだろうと思われます。

飲兵衛には飲兵衛が集まる、というのは遺伝を引き合いに出さなくとも自明のことのようにも思われますが・・・。

USA Today紙の記事はこちら。