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Negative emotionality: monoamine oxidase B gene variants modulate personality traits in healthy humans

  • Biological Psychiatry - Original Article
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Abstract

Monoamine oxidase A and B (MAOA and MAOB) appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of Major Depression, and vulnerability of Major Depression is associated with personality traits relating to positive and negative affect. This study aimed to investigate associations between MAOA and MAOB polymorphisms and personality traits of positive and negative emotionality in healthy volunteers, to elucidate mechanisms underlying personality and the risk for depression. Healthy Caucasian volunteers (N = 150) completed the Multiphasic Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), which includes independent superfactors of Positive Emotionality and Negative Emotionality. Participants were genotyped for 8 MAOA and 12 MAOB single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Association analyses for both SNPs and haplotypes were performed using the permutation approach implemented in PLINK. Negative Emotionality was significantly associated with the two highly linked MAOB polymorphisms rs10521432 and rs6651806 (p < 0.002). Findings were extended in haplotype analyses. For MAOB the 4-SNP haplotype GACG formed from rs1799836, rs10521432, rs6651806 and rs590551 was significantly related to lower Negative Emotionality scores (p < 0.002). MAOA was not related to personality in this study. Our finding provides the first evidence that MAOB polymorphisms influence levels of negative emotionality in healthy human volunteers. If confirmed, these results could lead to a better understanding of personality traits and inter-individual susceptibility developing psychiatric disorders such as major depression.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank Dr. Judith Badner, Dr. Andrew Skol, Shen Pei-Hong, Dr. David Goldman, and Dr. Colin Hodgkinson for their invaluable input and technical support. We also thank Ms. Margo Meverden and Ms. Patricia Kriegel for their skillful technical assistance. This work was supported by DA021336, DA02812 and MO RR00055.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Chicago, IL, MC3077, USA

    Andrea M. Dlugos, Abraham A. Palmer & Harriet de Wit

  2. Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Abraham A. Palmer

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  1. Andrea M. Dlugos
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Dlugos, A.M., Palmer, A.A. & de Wit, H. Negative emotionality: monoamine oxidase B gene variants modulate personality traits in healthy humans. J Neural Transm 116, 1323–1334 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-009-0281-2

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