Commitment issues encrypted in men’s DNA. That’s what a team of researchers at the Karolinska Institute announced on Tuesday. The gene responsible is the same one that renders some mice unable to mate for life, the research crew stated.

These findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where team members also revealed that men carrying a common variation of a gene involved in brain signaling is believed to interfere with men’s ability to communicate openly.

Team leader Hasse Walum said the study was not aimed at infidelity per-se, but at analysing the way men bond to their partners.

Researchers looked at 552 pairs of twins, for which they had gathered detailed information concerning parent and child relationships, marriage and mental health, testing their blood for a gene called AVPR1A. Similar in rodents and humans, this gene affects neuropeptide arginine vasopressin-a brain chemical-causing blood pressure disturbances. Some studies have also linked it to aggression, autism or the over-activation of the amygdala, which is the brain’s emotional center.

Team members reported that 15% of the men who carried the 334 gene variant had had marital issues in the past, also now being less likely to form a strong bond with their partners. Of the ones carrying two copies of the number 334 allele, 34% had been through conjugal distress.

Moreover, 30% of the carriers were unmarried men.

So, when it comes to marriage, you should know that it is no longer a “till death do us part” deal, but a “till my gene goes rampant” one. Careful what you fish for in the single men pond.