Possible control of dopamine β-hydroxylase via a codominant mechanism associated with the polymorphic (GT)_n repeat at its gene locus in healthy individuals

Abstract

Six allelic fragments were typed by a PCR-based process with a pair of primers specific for a sequence containing the polymorphic (GT)_n repeat at the human dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) locus in 125 unrelated healthy individuals. Their frequencies among these individuals were 0.012 (A1), 0.08 (A2), 0.344 (A3), 0.548 (A4), 0.004 (A5) and 0.012 (A6); the two major alleles, A3 and A4, made up nearly 90% of the alleles. These individuals were divided into four groups according to the genotype they possessed, i.e. A3/A3, A4/A4, A3/A4 and others (mixed group). Kruskal-Wallis analysis revealed a significant difference in serum DBH activity among these four genetic groups (H = 32.7, P < 0.0001). The homozygotic genotypes, A3/A3 and A4/A4, were associated with low and high DBH activity, respectively, and the heterozygotic genotype, A3/A4, seemed to play a role in keeping the DBH activity at a moderate level. The present work suggests that the human DBH is likely to be controlled via a codominant mechanism associated with the dinucleotide repeat polymorphism at its gene locus.