Gay Worms!

The title just about says it all, doesn’t it?  Researchers have been studying microscopic soil worms known as nematodes and have found that through genetic modification they can alter the attraction behaviour of these worms.  In this case, they can apparently get hermaphrodite worms to seek out other hermaphrodite worms, and this doesn’t occur naturally since they reproduce asexually.

Clearly, it’s a loaded topic; if the sexual orientation of one organism is genetically determined, what does that mean for other organisms?  While in the article lead researcher, Erik Jorgensen, says the results are limited to these worms, he is quoted in the very next paragraph suggesting it might be a common mechanism for sexual orientation that could have been carried over through evolution to more advanced creatures. 

I think there’s a good chance there’s a genetic basis for homosexuality in humans, but the argument that if it is so in nematodes, it could be so for humans is weak.  The real potential for this research lies in where these findings lead researchers investigating the sexual orientation in all sorts of animals in the future.