The Definitive Guide to Getting Tall

upstart writes:

The definitive guide to getting tall:

There are many genes, or at least markers of one sort or another within our DNA sequences, that have been associated with height. By some estimates the number could be thousands. However, finding those select genes that have a readily apparent and significant function in height has proven difficult.

One exciting new gene, at least for Chinese horses, was just described in the current issue of Current Biology. The researchers found that a transcription factor known as TBX3 plays a critical role in driving body size differences between Chinese ponies and horses. TBX3 is one of perhaps two dozen proteins in our own genomes that all share a highly conserved DNA binding domain known as a T-box. This domain is a big part of the protein and consists of several hundred amino acids that are typically coded over many exons. The DNA sequence bound by the T-box domain is also, conveniently I suppose, known in the literature as a T-box. The canonical sequence and overall reported length estimates of the the T-box element also come with a lot of variance. Some reports have it nailed at a length of 200 nucleotides, while others offer a shorter, and partly palindromic consensus sequence of "TCACACCT."

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