日前，由复旦大学、中科院上海营养与健康研究所牵头的一项研究首次揭示出这个奥秘，确认了人类指纹和肢体发育有高度的基因关联，这项重大成果今天（1月7日）刊发在国际顶级生物学期刊《细胞》杂志2022年第一期上。

The patterns of fingerprints for each person are often genetically inherited and usually remain the same throughout life. Based on this fact, a global team has discovered the influence of genes related to limb development on fingerprint patterns in a recent study.

The study, titledLimbDevelopment Genes Underlie Variation in Human Fingerprint Patterns, was published inCellmagazine on Friday. It was a collaborative effort led by Fudan University, with the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health and the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom contributing.

复旦大学和中科院相关团队联合国内外十多家科研机构，采集到多种族群体的指纹花纹，分析了近百万遗传位点，最终确认是肢体发育相关基因在指纹花纹表型的形成中发挥了主导作用。

图源：央视新闻

通过多表型关联分析，该研究发现指纹与手指长度比例紧密相关，两者共有相同遗传基础。如小指相对越长，掌长相对越短，双手斗型花纹越多；而食指远端指节(指纹形成处)相对越长，斗形花纹则越少。

The study revealed that fingerprint patterns are genetically related to the characteristics of hands and fingers.

For example, the longer the little finger is and the shorter the palm length, the more patterns of whorls－spirals or concentric circles－there are on fingerprints. Additionally, the longer the distal knuckle of the index finger of a person is, the fewer whorls there are.

首次破解指纹的基因密码，不但是理论成果，也预示着人类表型组研究的长远前景。

通过人体外部特征与遗传基因的深入研究，在先天疾病早筛、人体病变预防、职业体质选拔等各领域具有重大价值，目前科研团队已经与医疗机构展开合作，进一步拓展在应用领域的实践研究。

The study laid the theoretical foundation for correlation research of dermatoglyphics (the study of fingerprints) and diseases.

研究人员介绍，以唐氏综合征为例，患者可能会有断掌、足拇趾弓状球纹等特征。如果在一个婴儿出生后采集到他的肤纹特征，可以有98%的准确率判断出这个婴儿是否患有唐氏综合征。在零岁时发现和两岁时发现，干预效果将非常不同，可能是患者日后生活能否自理的差异。

For instance, patients with Down syndrome－a disease where someone is born with an extra copy of their 21st chromosome, which causes physical and mental disabilities－are more likely to have the simian line, a palm print crossing from one end of the palm to the other end in a straight line.

论文共同通讯作者、中国科学院院士、复旦大学教授金力表示，该研究是人类表型组研究的一个经典案例，“开展人类表型组研究的一个重要目的，就是要发现基因—表型—环境之间的关联机制，尤其是‘强关联’及其背后的机制，从而为生命健康研究提供新的指引。”

文章来源：中国日报双语新闻