Scientists Just Doubled the Number of Genes Linked to…

Scientists Just Doubled the Number of Genes Linked to Severe Morning Sickness Hyperemesis gravidarum, the most severe form of pregnancy sickness, affects about 2% of pregnant women, causing extreme nausea and vomiting that can lead to serious malnutrition and threaten both mother and baby. For years, this condition was poorly understood and sometimes wrongly dismissed as psychological. A major new genetic study published in Nature Genetics makes clear just how biological its roots really are. The scale of this study: Researchers at Keck School of Medicine of USC, working with an international team, conducted the largest genetic investigation of this condition ever undertaken, analysing data from 10,974 women with the condition and 461,461 controls, spanning European, Asian, African, and Latino ancestries. The finding, nine new genes: The study identified nine additional genes linked to severe pregnancy sickness, six of which had never before been connected to the condition at all. Combined with previously known genes, researchers have now more than doubled the total number of confirmed genetic risk factors, from four to ten. The strongest link remains GDF15: The gene