Ancient DNA: Sexlessness Allele Declines

Tracking the lead SNP from a new GWAS of lifetime sexlessness across 12,000 years of West Eurasian ancient genomes, the author finds the allele associated with sexlessness was more common in the deep past and has declined toward the present. A weighted regression on 500‑year bins (adjusted for latitude and coverage) shows a negative time trend (slope ≈ 0.0105 per kyr; standardized β ≈ 0.51). This suggests slow, long‑run selection against genetic liabilities that reduce partnering and reproduction. — It injects evolutionary genetics into debates about modern sexlessness and mating markets, indicating that recent behavioral shifts likely reflect social environments rather than a genetic rise in sexlessness‑prone variants.