[HPforGrownups] Re: Re Potterverse: Social Psychology - Wizarding Genetics--

[ksnidget at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 40706

Tex asked

>Could it be that magic is due to more than a single gene? I'm
>thinking of something like IQ than seems to involve a whole bunch
>of inherited talents, but seem to ride together? In fact, I wonder if 
>W might be associated with what we call IQ, although Goyle and 
>Crabe seem to offer counter-examples.

Something that seems to work as an on-off switch which spontaneously
becomes on in a long line of off's typically, is something that occurs in
a single gene.

W may be sort of a master switch as it were.  Once it is flipped, you
are magical.  

Now it is likely that other genes may influence which areas of magic
are easiest, most natural for you.  For example, Hermione is likely
to have genes that make her good at math and logic, regardless of
being magical.  Her love of Arithmancy may derive from her genes
that make her good at math.

Other people's talents seem to lie in other areas, so things that influence
which particular brand of intelligence you are good at (i.e. which part of
an SAT or IQ test you score well on, verbal, vs math, vs problem solving)
or what sort of temperment you have may also influence which branches
of magic either come naturally or appeal to any given individual.  Potion 
making seems to favor those who have patience and may even like
tedium.   

So my proposal is a single switch that is (like many single gene things)
probably modified by other genes, but appears to be both necessary
and sufficient to produce magical talent.

(and since genes tend to be seen in many species I suspect that the W
gene may be what is involved in magical vs non-magical creatures and
things like rats and humans that come in both varieties.  But the grant for
doing the genetic family tree of W is still languishing on someone's desk
somewhere--Current hypothesis is that in magical creatures there will be
evolutionary evidence seen in the genes other than W that explain why after
W arose from w in that species it came to be the only allele seen.  After all
the properties that make it switch works across species boundaries)

>also wondering how much W is a product of nurture.

The inference in SS is that the kids from non-magical families catch up 
pretty quickly,  which may make nuture less a part of the "are you magical
or not equation"  it may still effect what areas you are most fond of (being
exposed to X or Y may make you tend to either pursue or avoid X or Y) or
how well you reach your magical potential, but not so much in the are you
or are you not a wizard.

KSnidget--who is wondering if Yeast  spontaneously mutate to the W allele
and just what it might do with it.  Come to think of it this may be the explaination
for the "Harvard Law"  Under the most rigorously controlled conditions the
organisms will do as they damn well please...in any large culture you get a W
and that introduces a whole 'nother level of variability into the mix.  Fruit Flies
that can Apparate could explain quite a few things....