Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and serotonin transporter promoter gene polymorphisms: taking a triallelic approach makes a difference.
It has been recently reported in Psychophysiology that carriers of the short allele of an insertion/deletion (ins/del) functional polymorphism in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) of the serotonin transporter gene may display decreased resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). However, this region hosts another functionally connected single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs25531), which should also be genotyped in order to correctly categorize the low- and high-expressing alleles of 5-HTTLPR. The present study investigated resting RSA in an ethnically homogenous sample (N = 143) of participants genotyped for both the ins/del and rs25531 polymorphisms in 5-HTTLPR. In contrast with the biallelic genotypes, based only on the ins/del alleles, the triallelic 5-HTTLPR genotypes (i.e., including rs25531) showed no association with resting RSA. Taking a triallelic approach to 5-HTTLPR is thus necessary in order to avoid false positive results.
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania.
Romana
R
Vulturar
Adina
A
Chiş
Loredana
L
Ungureanu
Andrei C
AC
Miu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001146:Arrhythmia, Sinus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics / Q000502:physiology; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D004247:DNA