title: Allelic distribution of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in healthy Romanian volunteers.
abstract: Population stratification of functional gene polymorphisms is a potential confounding factor in genetic association studies. The Val66Met (rs6265) single-nucleotide polymorphism in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF) exhibits one of the highest variabilities in terms of allelic distribution between populations. The present study reports the distribution of BDNF Val66Met alleles in a sample of healthy volunteers (N = 1124) selected from the Romanian population. Frequencies were 80.74% for the Val allele and 19.26% for the Met allele. The data from this study extends efforts to map the allelic distribution of BDNF Val66Met in populations around the world and emphasizes that population stratification should be controlled for in future studies that report phenotypic associations in samples from different populations.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Cell and Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular Sciences, "Iuliu Ha.ieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Romana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vulturar
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Cell and Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular Sciences, "Iuliu Ha.ieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Adina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiş
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Medical Psychology, Department of Neurosciences, "Iuliu Ha.ieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Melinda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hambrich
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Center, Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Bio-Nano-Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kelemen
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, "Iuliu Ha.ieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ungureanu
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Andrei C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Miu
keywords: Gene candidate; Gene polymorphism; Population stratification