Whether we are right- or left-handed is an important aspect of our everyday life and it comes to no surprise that handedness is the single most studied aspect of human brain asymmetries. For long it has been thought to be a monogenic trait but a single gene explaining a sufficient amount of phenotypic variance has not been identified. In the present review article, researchers from the IKN give an overview about the results of several recent studies using advanced molecular genetic techniques which suggest that a multifactorial model taking into account both multiple genetic and environmental factors, as well as their interactions, might be better suited to explain the complex processes underlying the ontogenesis of handedness. New insights into handedness genetics provided by these studies are reviewed and it is discussed, how integrating results from genetic and neuroscientific studies might help to generate more accurate models of the ontogenesis of handedness. Based on these thoughts, several new candidate gene groups whose investigation would help to further understand the complex relation of genes, the brain and handedness are discus

Ocklenburg, S., Beste, C., Güntürkün, O.(2013). Handedness: A neurogenetic shift of perspective: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37: 2788-2793