These mice have preferences (Image: Peter Arnold inc/Alamy)

A GENE has been discovered that appears to dictate the sexual preferences of female mice. Delete the gene and the modified mice reject the advances of the males and attempt to mate with other females instead.

While it is impossible to say whether the finding has any relevance for human sexuality, it provides a clue as to how sexuality develops in mammals.

Chankyu Park and colleagues at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejon, South Korea, deleted the FucM gene in mouse embryos to see what effect it …