Ethnic differences in the serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in several European populations.
The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) is a protein that has a major role in divergent psychiatric disorders, personality traits and behaviors, by regulating serotonergic synaptic function. Transcriptional activity of the 5-HTT gene (5-HTT or SLC6A4) is modulated by a polymorphic repetitive element (5-HTT gene-linked polymorphic region, 5-HTTLPR), which consists of a 44-base pairs insertion-deletion in the promoter region, creating a short (S) allele and a long (L) allele. Ethnic differences in the allele frequencies of the 5-HTTLPR exist between Caucasian and Asian populations. This study investigated ethnic differences in 5-HTTLPR in 1804 healthy Caucasian subjects from several European populations living in Croatia and the Russian Federation. The genotype and allele frequency of the 5-HTTLPR differed significantly (P<0.001) between male and female Croats, Russians, Tatars and Bashkirs, due to the lower frequency of the S allele (38% and 37%) and S/S genotype (14% and 15%) in Croat men and women compared to other studied groups. When male and female data were collapsed, Russians had marginally different allele and genotype distribution compared to Bashkirs and Tatars. Bashkirs and Tatars had similar allele and genotype frequency. The higher frequency of the S/S genotype was found in Tatars and Bashkirs compared to Croats and Russians. Gender related differences occurred only in the allele distribution within Bashkir population. These ethnic differences might be responsible for the inconsistent findings in the studies of the association between various psychiatric disorders, personality traits, behaviors and 5-HTTLPR across different ethnicities, and should be controlled to enable the generalization of results across various population groups.
Noskova
Tatyana
T
Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Scientific Centre, RAS, 71 Octyabrya Avenue, Ufa, 450054, Russia.
Pivac
Nela
N
Nedic
Gordana
G
Kazantseva
Anastasiya
A
Gaysina
Darya
D
Faskhutdinova
Gulnaz
G
Gareeva
Anna
A
Khalilova
Zulfiya
Z
Khusnutdinova
Elza
E
Kovacic
Dragica Kozaric
DK
Kovacic
Zrnka
Z
Jokic
Mladen
M
Seler
Dorotea Muck
DM
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012737:Sex Factors; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins