[LINK] "Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects"

[rfmcdonald]

While Harry Potter fans might be familiar with this item already, the recent British Medical Journal article by Ramagopalan et al., "Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects" deserves the widest possible propagation for its analysis of the genetic origins of magic and its suggestions as to the locations of certain genes responsible for certain abilities.

We hypothesise that a profound mutation in an evolutionary ancestor occurred in a histone gene, which radically altered genome wide chromatin structure. This created new sites of chromatin accessibility and altered gene regulation, including novel enhancer elements to drive "magical" type expression of genes (figure). Such magical enhancers would join a growing list of regulatory elements such as promoters, enhancers, silencers, insulators, and locus control regions.17 These regulatory elements are currently being identified and catalogued by the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project Consortium, with analysis of 1% of the human genome recently reported.18 A dominant mutation in the histone gene could provide heritability of this epigenetic effect.19 Such a mechanism originating in our ancestors would account for non-human magical creatures with some magical abilities (for example, house elves, goblins, centaurs). The basic human genetic structure still develops, making wizards and witches in most ways phenotypically similar to muggles. Squibs may result from an as yet unidentified compensatory epigenetic phenomenon, which returns the chromatin to near normal (muggle) function.

In the fast-approaching age of practical human genetic engineering, who knows what this sort of information might produce? Imagine, a world with no Muggles or squibs!