Male pattern baldness is inherited: you get it from your ancestors. Now scientists have found the method that it gets transmitted from generation to generation: it's in your DNA.
Researchers conducted a genome-wide association study of 1,125 Caucasian men who had been assessed for male pattern baldness. They found two previously unknown genetic variants on chromosome 20 that substantially increased the risk of male pattern baldness. They then confirmed these findings in an additional 1,650 Caucasian men.
Researchers have long been aware of a genetic variant on the X chromosome that was linked to male pattern baldness, Richards said.
"That's where the idea that baldness is inherited from the mother's side of the family comes from," he explained. "However it's been long recognized that that there must be several genes causing male pattern baldness. Until now, no one could identify those other genes. If you have both the risk variants we discovered on chromosome 20 and the unrelated known variant on the X chromosome, your risk of becoming bald increases sevenfold."
You can read more in the e! Science News at http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/10/12/researchers.discover.baldness.gene.1.7.men.risk
