Dancing gene 9/7/06. By Ian Jones Two left feet on the dance floor? It could be down to your genes…

The success of 'Strictly Dance Fever' shows how far people are prepared to push themselves to succeed as dancers. But research from Israel suggests that some may have an advantage: they may be genetically better suited to dancing.

Richard Ebstein and colleagues studied 85 professional dancers and their parents, 91 athletes, and a control group of 'ordinary' people. They used questionnaires to test their personalities and looked at genetic variation around two genes known to affect social behaviour in animals: the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) and the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a).

The researchers found good correlations between dancers and personality measures such as the need for social contact and high spirituality, but also with variations around both the genes studied. Moreover, the personality traits also independently correlated with the genetic variation. The results, say the researchers, suggest that the genetic factors are promoting participation in dance, by influencing personality rather than body mechanics or coordination.

A similar question has been tackled in a quite different way by William Brown and colleagues at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and the University of Washington, Seattle. Their starting point was the assertion: "Dance is believed to be important in the courtship of a variety of species, including humans." So might dancing ability reflect a good set of genes, and be under selective pressure?

To explore this idea, they looked at links between body symmetry (often used as a measure of 'quality' in evolutionary studies) and dancing ability. Fortunately, symmetry has been measured twice since 1996 in a group of Jamaicans. The researchers videoed people dancing, and members of the same population scored them for dancing ability.

Strong associations were seen between symmetry and dancing ability, particularly in men. So, in Jamaica at least, dancing ability shows signs of being under sexual selection and provides insight into men's fitness – in the evolutionary sense.

References

Bachner-Melman R et al. AVPR1a and SLC6A4 gene polymorphisms are associated with creative dance performance . PLoS Genet 2005;1(3):e42.

Brown WM et al. Dance reveals symmetry especially in young men . Nature 2005;438(7071):1148–50.