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Individual differences in human sexual desire can be attributed to genes, says a new finding that may help treat sexual disorders in future.

Researchers led by Richard P Ebstein, a professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, examined the DNA of 148 healthy male and female Israeli university students, reported science portal News-Medical.

When they compared the results, they found that common variations in the sequence of DNA impacted sexual desire, arousal and function and led to differences and diversity in the human sexual phenotype.

Little has been known about the biological basis for individual differences in normal, human sexual behaviour. Most significant variations in the expression of human sexuality are considered historically to be the result of learned behaviour or psychological problems.

But the new findings show that individual differences in human sexual desire are linked to genetic variations, which scientists believe could have an impact on people's understanding of their own sexuality as well as on the treatment of sexual disorders.