July 31st, 2004, 1:10 am

Wearing Genes in Church

The New York Times reports that Utah is the perfect genetic petrie dish in which to trace genetic transference:

“For more than 150 years, largely because of the Mormon church, the state has been a magnet to people who mostly stayed put. A relatively small founding population was fruitful and multiplied - aided in the 19th century by polygamy, adding a unique wrinkle to the genetic trail. With its emphasis on family records and genealogy, the Mormon church, officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then created a treasure trove of details about those people… In a state where thousands of families are descended from polygamists, the genes of a relatively small group of men have been amplified and etched into the biological record, researchers say, as though with a highlighting pen. One male whose genes might have carried a particular mutation, for example, could have fathered dozens of children through multiple wives - and had sons who in turn took multiple wives themselves and had equally big families. Scientists tracing that gene through the family branches where it was found and those where it was absent can learn a great deal about how very specific traits move through succeeding generations.”