Watson's black shares - a PR-gag?
(January 9th 2008) James Watson is one of the most famous scientists of the 20th century. Watson is not only well known for his groundbreaking discovery of the quintessence of life, the structure of the DNA molecule, but the 79 year old Nobel laureate also has an affinity for provocative statements, his latest claim being that blacks are less intelligent than whites. Irony of fate: An analysis has now revealed that 16 percent of Watson's genome very likely stem from a black ancestor of African descent. Melanie Estrella reports.
Watson's DNA profile, being the second human genome posted publicly in the internet, contains possibly 16 times more genes of black origin than the average white European. "This level is what you would expect in someone who had a great-grandparent who was African", said Kari Stefansson, chairman of the Icelandic company deCODE genetics carrying out the examination of Watson's genome, in
The Sunday Times.
That would be a bitter pill to swallow for Watson, who was quoted as "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really" in
The Sunday Times last October. The article that subsequently evoked a public outcry was written by a former assistant of Watson and published in anticipation of the release of Watson's latest memoir "Avoid Boring People: Lessons From A Life in Science".
The type of genetic test that was performed on Watson's exquisite set of chromosomes by deCODE genetics is unclear since
Lab Times didn't find any publication or press release. So could this announcement be a clever PR gag drawing attention to the brandnew deCODE genetics spin-off deCODEme?
DeCODEme, launched in November last year, belongs to the increasing number of online services offering private DNA analysis. For only 985 US $ deCODEme cracks anyone's genetic code and sheds light on personal risk for 18 diseases as well as ancestry. All it takes for this deep personal insight is a swab taken from the inner cheek, which is used for subsequent DNA analysis.
Leading anthropologists view commercially available tests of genetic ancestry as having significant scientific limitations (
Science 318, Oct 19, 2007; p. 399-400). As they point out, companies offering ancestry analysis do not possess sufficient comparative genetic information to pinpoint genes on a world map. In addition, the use of certain alleles as population markers is problematic due to high genetic diversity and constant gene flow within populations.
Watson's words intermingling genes, race and intelligence cost him his position as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which he had held for 39 years, even though he promptly apologised. "Not being boring isn't sufficient to be a success in this world, but certainly it helps", is another of Watson's quotes in that infamous autumn
Sunday Times article. Sometimes, however, trying to avoid boredom might result in a dazzling career ending quicker than intended, even with a sound lifelong base of experience in science.
Link:
deCODEme.
