Genome-wide association scan of trait depression.
BACKGROUND
Independent of temporal circumstances, some individuals have greater susceptibility to depressive affects, such as feelings of guilt, sadness, hopelessness, and loneliness. Identifying the genetic variants that contribute to these individual differences can point to biological pathways etiologically involved in psychiatric disorders.


METHODS
Genome-wide association scans for the depression scale of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory in community-based samples from a genetically homogeneous area of Sardinia, Italy (n = 3972) and from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging in the United States (n = 839).


RESULTS
Meta-analytic results for genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms indicate that the strongest association signals for trait depression were found in RORA (rs12912233; p = 6 × 10⁻⁷), a gene involved in circadian rhythm. A plausible biological association was also found with single nucleotide polymorphisms within GRM8 (rs17864092; p = 5 × 10⁻⁶), a metabotropic receptor for glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest shared genetic basis underlying the continuum from personality traits to psychopathology.
Terracciano
Antonio
A
National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA. Terraccianoa@mail.nih.gov
Tanaka
Toshiko
T
Sutin
Angelina R
AR
Sanna
Serena
S
Deiana
Barbara
B
Lai
Sandra
S
Uda
Manuela
M
Schlessinger
David
D
Abecasis
Gonçalo R
GR
Ferrucci
Luigi
L
Costa
Paul T
PT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015142:Baltimore; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
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