Males and Females are more different than previously thought

[jerry611]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thousands of genes behave differently in the same organs of males and females, researchers reported on Friday, a finding that may help explain why men and women have different responses to drugs and diseases.

Their study of brain, liver, fat and muscle tissue from mice showed that gene expression -- the level of activity of a gene -- varied greatly according to sex. The same is almost certainly true of humans, the team at the University of California Los Angeles reported.

"This research holds important implications for understanding disorders such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, and identifies targets for the development of gender-specific therapies," said Jake Lusis, a professor of human genetics who worked on the study.

Writing in the August issue of Genome Research, the researchers said that even in the same organ, scores of genes varied in expression levels between the sexes.

"We saw striking and measurable differences in more than half of the genes' expression patterns between males and females," said Dr. Thomas Drake, a professor of pathology. "We didn't expect that. No one has previously demonstrated this genetic gender gap at such high levels."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060707/sc_nm/science_sex_dc

[shain from kane]

1. Different strokes for different folks. n/t

[DELUSIONAL]

2. and yet drugs are often put on the market after testing in males only

Anyway I've said that males and females are different species <sarcasm> perhaps I'm closer to the truth than I thought.

The smallest differences were in brain tissue, they found.

Veryyyyy interesting.....

[bemildred]

3. What is the range of expression in males?

And how does that relate to the difference in expression between males and females?
Statistically, I mean.

It boggles the mind, really, that these folks are surprised that men and women are different at the genetic level.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. The part about obesity makes a great deal of sense to me

Men seem to lose weight much more easily than women do, given similar ratios of calories ingested versus calories burned.