Summary: Researchers have discovered 69 genetic variants associated with musical beat synchronization, or the ability to move in sync with the beat of music.

The first large-scale genomic study of musicality — published on the cover of today’s Nature Human Behaviour — identified 69 genetic variants associated with beat synchronization, meaning the ability to move in synchrony with the beat of music.

An international team of scientists, including the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute and 23andMe, demonstrated that human capacity to move in synchrony with a musical beat (termed beat synchronization) is partially coded in the human genome. .

Many of the genes associated with beat synchronization are involved in central nervous system function, including genes expressed very early in brain development and in areas underlying auditory and motor skills, according to co-senior author Reyna Gordon, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and co-director of the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab.

23andMe’s large research dataset provided study data from more than 600,000 customers who consented to participate in research allowed researchers to identify  genetic alleles that vary in association with participants’ beat synchronization ability.

First author Maria Niarchou, PhD, research assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, said the study findings “made new connections between the genetic and neural architecture of musical rhythm, thus improving our understanding of how our genomes tune our brains to the beat of the music.”.

“Genome-wide association study of musical beat synchronization demonstrates high polygenicity” by Reyna Gordon et al

Genome-wide association study of musical beat synchronization demonstrates high polygenicity

Here we conducted a genome-wide association study to identify common genetic variants associated with beat synchronization in 606,825 individuals

We performed validations of the self-report phenotype (through separate experiments) and of the genome-wide association study (polygenic scores for beat synchronization were associated with patients algorithmically classified as musicians in medical records of a separate biobank)

Genetic correlations with breathing function, motor function, processing speed and chronotype suggest shared genetic architecture with beat synchronization and provide avenues for new phenotypic and genetic explorations