◎魏國金

Scientists in Australia said they have identified a gene which may explain why some people are transsexuals .

澳洲科學家指出，他們已鑑定出一種基因，或能解釋為何有些人會是變性人。

In the largest genetic study involving transsexuals to date, researchers in Australia said they found that transsexuality may be linked to the androgen receptor （AR） gene -- which is known to modify the effect of the male sex hormone testosterone.

在迄今規模最大的變性人遺傳研究中，澳洲的研究者指出，他們發現變性慾或許與雄激素受體（AR）基因有關—已知該基因能減輕男性荷爾蒙睪丸酮的作用。

"There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice, however our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops," said lead researcher Vincent Harley of Monash University’s Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research.

「社會上存在著變性慾僅是生活方式的選擇的污名，然而我們的發現卻對性別認同如何發展的生物學基礎，提供了支持，」主要研究人、孟納許大學亨利王子醫學研究所的文森．哈利說。

The scientists collected DNA samples from 112 male-to-female transsexuals and found that they were more likely to have a longer version of the AR gene than another group of 258 non-transsexual men.

科學家蒐集112位男變女的變性人DNA樣本，結果發現他們要比由258名非變性男子組成的另一組，較可能有長版的AR基因。

The researchers said the longer AR variant gene may have resulted in less effective testosterone signalling, a mechanism that masculinizes the brain during early development.

研究人員指出，較長的AR變異基因或許導致睪丸酮訊號的釋放較無力，而睪丸酮的訊號釋放是腦部發育早期時，男性化的機制。

新聞辭典

transsexuality、transsexualism：名詞，指易性癖、變性慾。transsexual當名詞為變性人，也可做形容詞，比如︰a transsexual operation（變性手術）。

to date︰迄今為止。of even date，當天的。例句︰I telephoned your office last Monday morning, and sent my letter of even date that afternoon.（我上週一打電話到你的辦公室，而且當天下午又寄出信。）

masculinize︰動詞，使男性化、使具有男性特徵。masculine指男子的、男子氣概的，比如，masculine pride（男子的驕傲）、a masculine looking woman（男性模樣的女人）。