title: Maternal and offspring dopamine D4 receptor genotypes interact to influence juvenile impulsivity in vervet monkeys.
abstract: The merging of psychological and genetic methodologies has led to an increasing appreciation of environmental moderators of the relationships between genotype and phenotype. Here we used a nonhuman-primate model to study the moderating effect of the mother's genotype on the association of a dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene polymorphism with juvenile impulsivity, assessed in a standardized social-challenge test. The results showed that juvenile carriers of the rare 5-repeat variant of the exon III 48-base-pair repeat polymorphism scored significantly higher in social impulsivity than juveniles homozygous for the common 6-repeat allele. In addition, juvenile genotype interacted with maternal genotype to influence impulsivity, with the highest rates of impulsivity found in variant offspring with variant mothers. These results highlight the importance of considering the genotype of the parents in studies of early experience and vulnerability genes for impulsivity-related traits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. lfairbanks@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Lynn A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Fairbanks
authors.forename: Baldwin M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Way
authors.forename: Sherry E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Breidenthal
authors.forename: Julia N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jorgensen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D050638:Receptors, Dopamine D4 / Q000235:genetics*; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D050638:Receptors, Dopamine D4