阅读理解
"You are just like your mother." This phrase is often said by many. As we grow older, we may notice that we're getting more like our mother. Yet surprisingly, new research has found that most people are more similar to their father.
A team of scientists from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in the US found that we inherit the same numbers of genes(基因) from mother and father. But we use more of the DNA we inherit from our father.
The study helps us to partly explain who we are. And more importantly, it helps us to find out whether we are probably going to develop illness. For example, if we inherit the gene of a disease from our mother, it may not be as strong as if we had inherited it from our father.
We know that there are 95 genes influenced by our parents, said lead researcher Professor Villena. These are called imprinted genes(印记基因). But now, the study has found that there are thousands of other genes that have come from our parents.
For the study, the scientists picked three different kinds of mice with different genes. The mice then gave birth to nine babies each. When they all reached adulthood, the team then tested very single gene of their DNA. They found an imbalance(不平衡) that swung toward their father.
Villena also said that the recent study was the first to show that mammals(哺乳动物) are more similar to their fathers than mothers. "This is an unusual new research finding that opens the door to a completely new area of discovery in human genetics," he said.
