A new study on the so-called gay gene has found no evidence that male homosexuality is influenced by a gene passed from mother to son. The study, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science , does little to settle the issue of whether there is a gene on the X chromosome that predisposes men to homosexuality.
Men inherit their single X chromosome from their mothers.
The gene was first predicted in 1993 based on studies of families with two gay brothers. Maybe it will be, and maybe it won't be. Dean Hamer, the scientist who first reported the connection, criticized the new study for not using families where homosexuality predominated on the mother's side. The researchers, argued Dr. Hamer of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., were making it harder on themselves to find the gene. None of the scientists on the new study could be reached for comment Thursday.