So can his genomes tell us anything about his ability to survive so many years of hard partying?
Pearson: I talked with Ozzy, and we looked at the genome with an eye toward the nerves. If you think about what makes Ozzy unusual, it's that he's a world-class musician, he has an addictive personality, he has a tremor, he's dyslexic, he gets up very early in the morning. And many of these can be traced back to the nervous system.
One variant involves a gene that makes CLTCL1, which is a really interesting protein. When a cell takes in things from the outside membrane, it pulls itself in like a basket to pull things in. It does this in all kinds of cells, including nerve cells. He has two copies of an unusual variant that makes a grossly different version of the protein than most people produce. Here's a gene that's central to how nerve cells communicate with each other, so it's curious to us to see a grossly different protein variant. It's thought provoking.
We didn't find anything that can explain to you from point A to point B why Ozzy can think up good songs or why he is so addicted to cocaine, but we found some things that would be interesting to follow up on.
Such as?
Pearson: Alcohol dehydrogenase genes. They're involved in breaking down alcohol when you drink. Ozzy has an unusual variant near one of his alcohol dehydrogenase genes, ADH4, that help regulate how much of the protein gets made. Given his troubles with alcohol in the past, obviously we would like to clarify why his body responds differently than other people's.
Did his genome show any predisposition for serious diseases?
Pearson: He's a 61-year-old healthy guy, and that speaks for itself. That suggests he's done okay in the genetic lottery.
It also speaks to how early on we are in this field. Genome-wide association studies are notoriously weak in identifying variants that strongly determine our health. They look at variants that are common in the population. Those are easy to look at, but variants don't get to be common in the population if they're very harmful. It's clear now that you have to look also—and especially—at rare variants. And like everyone, Ozzy carries several hundred thousand variants that have never been seen by scientists. It's going to be a while before we get enough data as a society to understand those variants.
Were there any big surprises hiding in his genome?
Pearson: For a long time we thought that Neandertals didn't have any descendents today, but it turns out that Asians and Europeans have some evidence of Neandertal lineage—like a drop in the bucket. We found a little segment on Ozzy's chromosome 10 that very likely traces back to a Neandertal forebearer.
Ozzy, of course, was tickled to hear this. But Knome founder George Church's genome has about three times as much Neandertal, which we thought was funny.
What has Ozzy's response to the findings been so far?
Pearson: From what I can tell, Ozzy was really very sincerely interested in this. He is really very engaged. As I was leaving Ozzy's home, I was in the atrium—and I think he had thought I had already left for my cab, but I could hear him say to his assistant [in an Osbourne-like accent], "That was really interesting."
What can we learn from Ozzy's genome?
Pearson: I think one lesson is understanding music. It's a pretty interesting thing we do at humans—that some of us can synchronize to a beat, that we like to sing songs. But we don't understand it well genetically, so one of the open questions is we'll get a better understanding of what makes a good musician, what kinds of variants help us keep a beat, make a good tune. I think looking ahead, sequencing the genomes of more musicians would be a good idea.
If you could sequence any other celebrity genomes, whose would you choose?
Pearson: Ozzy suggested Keith Richards. Our partners who did the sequencing suggested we sequence Ozzie Smith, the baseball player, as a control. He's always been a good teetotaler.
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24 Comments
Add CommentDear Ms. Harmon,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHonestly, Ozzy's extraordinary career is due to his musical genius and his astonishingly original showmanship. What has that to do with a infinitesimal, probably non-encoding, raft of detritis in the ocean of his DNA?
Didn't you consider that what you, and the headline, are implying is simply absurd? Come on, this is supposed to be S.A.
With all due respect,
Steve
All famous people have Neandertal lineage. They also run the media and own all the banks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe're better than you. And we never left. We've always been here and we always will be.
Hmm. This needs a LOT more data.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut behavior does not equal genetics. To get a control, go into the family history of alcohol and drug use, not just one guy.
This would make a very good article for The Rolling Stone, not so much Scientific America.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI volunteer my family! Seriously... send me some kits, it will be the best thing many of them will ever do for humanity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSteveinOG,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see no implication that Ozzy's musical talent is somehow related to his Neanderthal lineage. I see where you are coming from however in that it may give people the wrong impression about his lineage and what it means but those who may say "aha! Well that explains things.." may actually learn something such as "Pearson: For a long time we thought that Neandertals didn't have any descendents today, but it turns out that Asians and Europeans have some evidence of Neandertal lineage—like a drop in the bucket." and that Knome's founder has 3 times as much.
What about people who do not have any Neanderthal DNA in them and why don't they any Neanderthal DNA in them? Since it is claimed that we ALL came from the southern tip of Africa, have you done any testing for Neanderthal DNA in the people there, and have you tested any people in the Outback of Australia? If there are more people in Africa and Australia with Neanderthal DNA in them, then where did the people with no Neanderthal DNA in them come from?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisboy, there's an unexpected revelation!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre you suggesting Reincarnation??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am more and more interested in the linkage between Neanderthal and autism that many scientists are exploring. Another interesting linkage is Neanderthal and red haired people. My daughter is autistic and her grandmother and great grandmother both had red hair. Neanderthal kids grew up fast, tended to be taller and stronger than modern humans. Alex is already taller than her classmates, has size 7 shoes at age 9. She has a natural homing pigeon instinct, never gets lost, remembers a place after being there once and is great with her hands. Neanderthals were tool makers and artists. Look at the Neanderthal cave paintings. Exquisite skill.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou look at Ozzy Osborne and his musical skills and hmmm. You do wonder, eh?
Oh great - another reader who does not read.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisALL things 'scientific' are for Scientific American, JT. You should know this by now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll never understand many of the posts here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirst: SciAm REPORTS on science. They don't DO science.
Second: Science is applicable to EVERYTHING. This includes rock stars.
And third: You must read the articles with OPEN minds. Vomiting up your preconceived notions is ALWAYS counterproductive.
That is really about the silliest article I have seen yet in S.A. After all, Ozbourne is English, he would need to be either part Asian or part African to possess any Neaderthal DNA.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAgreed, Sci Am reports on science news and does not conduct the original research. Readers really need to, you know, actually read the articles before commenting on them or reaching conclusions and it also helps to have a basic understanding of the issues discussed in the stories before spouting off. For example, why look for Neanderthal DNA in the first hominids from southern Africa? Neanderthals came from the Neander Valley of Germany (so yes, Ozzie would have Neanderthal DNA if he has European ancestry) long after early man migrated out of Africa. They probably intermingled with other hominids roughly 65,000 years ago in the Near or Middle East.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe really should sequence Keith Richards. "Somewhere in Keith is the cure for every disease," I once heard!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm not sure of your age, Sirius, but unfortuneately you are misinformed about the origins of Neaderthals amongst the present German population. There is no REAL relation between Europeans and Africans/Neaderthals.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscool article...as an ozzy fan I think its excellent that he would pay to have his dna sequenced...the more the better...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat part of genes... make us who we are is so hard to understand? There's never any problem when it comes to breading and Pets! Race horses, and so forth. Wake up...it's the truth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA drop of Neanderthal in folks who might have met them! How jolly. Apparently the Neanderthal developed and throve north of the equator. They were very strong, not very tall, and sometimes had red hair. The Monkey in the Mirror man, Tattersal, suggested that homosapiens ruthlessly destroyed our sturdy cousins. I am thrilled to think that we kissed and it tells! I've read that a few painted shells, a possible stone flute and some flowers in a grave are the scant hints of Neanderthal inner life. Cave paintings are attributed to big brained Cro Magnon, also our cousins. There are those in my family who are short-legged, long bodied, stronger than some, prone to eat Atkins-wise, who gain rather short but permanent adult height and maturation at twelve. I've always hoped there was a bit of Neanderthal there, not just my rugged working class German/Irish origin. Dear me, even autism-we do have a few grumpy males with a form of Asbergers. Well, that explains it all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey, blond hair and blue eyes are recessive as are red hair and green eyes. These traits did not come from Africa but were in the Neanderthal gene pool when the modern humans migrated up from the Middle East as the second or third wave out of Africa. It took millions of years to mutate these northern European skin and hair genes. It is clear that the modern humans and Neanderthals inter-bred. The blue eyes, while recessive, must have been attractive enough to continue as dominant in the gene pool long after the last Neanderthal went extinct in northern Europe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow, with inter-breeding among all humans, these genes may go extinct as brown eyed, dark hair out breed them and erase the last traces of the Neanderthals.
Not knowing what the gene he shares with Neanderthals is useless. He also shares genes with protozoa as do we all. A large portion of our genome consists of generic eukaryotic genes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs there a gene for stupidity? Many of the posts here take a tiny hint of a possibility and spin these grand delusions in great detail. From the obvious racism of rennie insisting that Africans must be more primitive, even though Neanderthals originated in Germany, to the supposed artistic skills of Neanderthals, until there is factual evidence it is all a delusion telling much more about the mental illness of the poster than the reality of the Neanderthal people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs the article states repeatedly, we are at the very beginning of learning about the human genome. Instead of promoting our political agendas based on delusion, how about we wait for actual useful information?
i thank ozzy will live for aleast 8 more years i have read his book he has did a lot of things but he is still livin
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