title: Association study of a functional MAOA-uVNTR gene polymorphism and personality traits in Chinese young females.
abstract: Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), a mitochondrial outer membrane enzyme, degrades biogenic amines including norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin, which have been implicated in the expression of personality traits. We tested the associations between functional MAOA-uVNTR genetic variants and personality traits in a cohort of 370 healthy young Chinese females. Subjects who were homozygous for the 4-repeat allele of the MAOA-uVNTR gene tended to have a higher total score on the Harm Avoidance (HA) dimension of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) (p = 0.056), and had a significantly higher score on subdimension 4 of HA (p = 0.020) compared with the 3-repeat carriers. No significant association was demonstrated for MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism and the other two dimensions (Novelty Seeking and Reward Dependence) of TPQ. These results suggest that genetic variants of the MAOA gene may play a role in HA, but not in Novelty Seeking or Reward Dependence.
authors.affiliation: Yu's Psychiatric Clinic, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Younger W-Y
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chih-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hung-Chi
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shih-Jen
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Chen-Jee
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Ming-Chao
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tai-Jui
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D002681:China; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D010556:Personality Tests; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012201:Reward
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase