Women more likely to cheat on their partner if they carry ‘infidelity gene’
It has often been the case that cheating partners who get caught have a long list of excuses to explain away their liaisons.
But now scientists have discovered an 'infidelity gene' that could mean cheating women will be able to simply say their genes made them do it, the Daily Mail reports.
Females who carry a specific variant of a gene which affects social behaviour and sexual motivation have a greater propensity to take part in 'extra pair mating', researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia found.
Variants of combinations of the AVPR1A gene have been found to be associated with promiscuity and ruthlessness in animals, the Sunday Times reported.
Each person carries two AVPR1A genes - one inherited from each parent - so there are a number of potential combinations.
But these variations only appear to affect females rather than males.
Dr Brendan Zietsch, a professor of psychology at the university, worked with a team of geneticists and neuroscientists to examine the DNA and lifestyles of more than 7,000 people.
They found that of the 6.4 per cent of women who had been unfaithful, a large amount of them had a specific variant of the 'infidelity gene.'
'Overall, these findings confirm genetic underpinnings of extrapair mating in humans,' the scientists said in a research paper.
The scientists said the findings were surprising, as it is generally thought that behaviour is affected by a combination of different genes as well as social and cultural factors.
Last year researchers from the University of Queensland found that infidelity could be inherited.
They found that 63 per cent of unfaithful behaviour in men and 40 per cent in women could be put down to genetic interference, including variations of specific genes.
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