ABERDEEN, Scotland, June 6 (UPI) -- Scientists in Scotland said a genetic switch that may trigger depression could be older than the dinosaurs.
Researchers with the University of Aberdeen, the Institute of Psychiatry and King's College London said short DNA sequences that control key genes that influence mood may be nearly unchanged, through hundreds of millions of years from a time before the dinosaurs, the University of Aberdeen said in a release.
"Only by comparing the genomes of species as diverse as mice, marsupials and birds has it been possible to identify these switches as, in many cases, they are located far away from the genes they control," lead researcher Alasdair MacKenzie said in a statement. "The distances involved are as surprising as having a light bulb in London with the switch for controlling it in Liverpool."
