Want... Scientists from the US, the UK and China have discovered a possible genetic cause for depression, the Beijing-based Caixin news website reports.
On July 16, scientists published an article stating the abnormal behavior of certain human genes was seen to correlate with depression.
Jonathan Flint, a geneticist from Oxford University, and Kenneth Kendler, a psychiatrist at Virginia Commonwealth University, along with a group of Chinese scientists carried out a study on 5,303 Chinese women with severe depression. They sequenced the DNA of the women and compared it with a control group of 5,337 Chinese people.
The research suggested that an enzyme from a strain of DNA and a gene called SIRT1, a protein that gives energy to mitochondria, have a direct influence on depression. The research team speculated that the cause of depression might be the abnormal activity of SIRT1 in mitochondria and the DNA's enzyme effect on the human body.
Scientists still do not fully understand how the enzyme functions in influencing the behavior of the SIRT1 gene with regard to mitochondria in order to cause depression when there are not enough genetic banks.
Three hundred and fifty million people across the world suffer from depression, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Usually, women are more susceptible to depression and are more likely to commit suicide when suffering from it.