Blanton Susan H, Nance Walter E, Norris Virginia W, Welch Katherine O, Burt Amber, Pandya Arti, Arnos Kathleen S
Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami, FL 33136, USA.
Ann Hum Genet. 2010 Jan;74(1):27-33. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.2009.00553.x. Epub 2009 Nov 20.
The genetic fitness of an individual is influenced by their phenotype, genotype and family and social structure of the population in which they live. It is likely that the fitness of deaf individuals was quite low in the Western European population during the Middle Ages. The establishment of residential schools for deaf individuals nearly 400 years ago resulted in relaxed genetic selection against deaf individuals which contributed to the improved fitness of deaf individuals in recent times. As part of a study of deaf probands from Gallaudet University, we collected pedigree data, including the mating type and the number and hearing status of the children of 686 deaf adults and 602 of their hearing siblings. Most of these individuals had an onset of severe to profound hearing loss by early childhood. Marital rates of deaf adults were similar to their hearing siblings (0.83 vs. 0.85). Among married individuals, the fertility of deaf individuals is lower than their hearing siblings (2.06 vs. 2.26, p = 0.005). The fitness of deaf individuals was reduced (p = 0.002). Analysis of fertility rates after stratification by mating type reveals that matings between two deaf individuals produced more children (2.11) than matings of a deaf and hearing individual (1.85), suggesting that fertility among deaf individuals is influenced by multiple factors.
个体的遗传适应性受其表型、基因型以及其所生活群体的家庭和社会结构影响。在中世纪的西欧人群中，聋人的适应性可能相当低。近400年前为聋人设立寄宿学校，导致针对聋人的遗传选择放松，这促使聋人在近代的适应性有所提高。作为对加劳德特大学聋人先证者研究的一部分，我们收集了系谱数据，包括686名成年聋人及其602名听力正常的兄弟姐妹的交配类型、子女数量和听力状况。这些个体中的大多数在幼儿期就开始出现重度至极重度听力损失。成年聋人的结婚率与他们听力正常的兄弟姐妹相似（分别为0.83和0.85）。在已婚个体中，聋人的生育力低于他们听力正常的兄弟姐妹（分别为2.06和2.26，p = 0.005）。聋人的适应性降低了（p = 0.002）。按交配类型分层后对生育率的分析表明，两个聋人之间的交配生育的子女更多（2.11），多于聋人与听力正常个体之间的交配（1.85），这表明聋人的生育力受多种因素影响。
