Scientists identify gene behind our sixth sense

Two people with a rare and little-understood disorder have helped scientists identify a gene that might be responsible for our ''sixth sense'' of body awareness.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study by scientists at the National Institutes of Health involving a 9-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman with rare neuromuscular symptoms.

Both patients seemed to lack proprioception, an awareness of the position of one's body in space. When blindfolded, they could not walk or keep their balance and they also lacked the ability to track the position of their arms and legs without seeing them.

For most people, touching their nose with their eyes closed would pose no problem. The ability to do this could be affected by alcohol, but if the two people in the study closed their eyes and tried to touch their noses, they would not be able to do it at all.

The researchers found that the patients had mutations on a gene called PIEZO2, suggesting that this gene contributed to the sense of touch and proprioception.

''Our study highlights the critical importance of PIEZO2 and the senses it controls in our daily lives,'' Dr Carsten Bönnemann, an NIH researcher, said in a statement. ''Understanding its role in these senses may provide clues to a variety of neurological disorders.''

Our study highlights the critical importance of PIEZO2 and the senses it controls in our daily lives," said Carsten G Bonnemann, from the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), PTI reported.

"The results establish that PIEZO2 is a touch and proprioception gene in humans. Understanding its role in these senses may provide clues to a variety of neurological disorders," he said.

The two patients in the study had difficulties walking; hip, finger and foot deformities; and abnormally curved spines diagnosed as progressive scoliosis.