In the most comprehensive analysis to date, researchers found that the shapes of fingerprints — whether they are circular, wavy, or winding — are influenced by the genes responsible for limb development instead of skin patterning. The study, presented January 6 in the journal Cell, could help scientists better understand the association between genes and phenotypical traits in humans.
“People may wonder why our team is working on fingerprints,” says Sijia Wang, a geneticist at the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and co-senior author on the paper.
