NEW DELHI, May 30: Researchers have identified a gene behind an inherited condition that can lead to babies being born with a hole in the heart.

Holes in the heart are among the common abnormalities in newborn babies.

They are usually between the receiving chambers of the heart and usually require cardiac surgery for being cured.

In adults, the faulty gene can produce abnormal heart rhythms. Both sexes can be equally affected by the condition and if a person inherits the gene then their children have at least 50 per cent chances of being affected.

Professor David Brook and his team from the Human Molecular Genetics Department at Nottingham University in the English Midlands made this discovery recently, a release said here.

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