Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the evidence for a genetic basis to magic.


METHODS
Literature review.


METHODS
Harry Potter novels of J K Rowling.


METHODS
Muggles, witches, wizards, and squibs.


METHODS
Limited.


METHODS
Family and twin studies, magical ability, and specific magical skills.


RESULTS
Magic shows strong evidence of heritability, with familial aggregation and concordance in twins. Evidence suggests magical ability to be a quantitative trait. Specific magical skills, notably being able to speak to snakes, predict the future, and change hair colour, all seem heritable.


CONCLUSIONS
A multilocus model with a dominant gene for magic might exist, controlled epistatically by one or more loci, possibly recessive in nature. Magical enhancers regulating gene expressionmay be involved, combined with mutations at specific genes implicated in speech and hair colour such as FOXP2 and MCR1.
D001076:Aptitude / Q000502:physiology; D018703:Founder Effect; D005823:Genetics; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D008273:Magic; D010375:Pedigree; D018433:Twin Studies as Topic