The "Opposites Attract" Gene

OWD — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:59:08 -0400

Feel as though your hubby-to-be couldn't be more different from you? That may be cause to celebrate: Brazilian researchers may have discovered a genetic explanation for opposites attracting!

90 married couples were compared to 152 randomly-generated couples for differences in couples' major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a genetic region found in most vertebrates that is related to the immune system. They found that there were greater differences in the real couples than the virtual couples.

Professor Maria da Graca Bicalho explains, "If MHC genes did not influence mate selection, we would have expected to see similar results from both sets of couples. But we found that the real partners had significantly more MHC dissimilarities than we could have expected to find simply by chance."

Check it out.

That's not the most romantic way to talk about coupling up, but still... interesting!

The OurWeddingDay Blog

The "Opposites Attract" Gene