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Association between Methylation of Neuromediator Brain System Genes and Psychoemotional Human Characteristics

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Abstract

Epigenetic regulation of gene activity is implicated in a number of mental disorders, including developmental disorders of the brain, personality disorders, and deviant behavior. A study of the methylation level of 24 selected CpG sites in the groups of patients with the listed disorders and the control group was carried out. It was shown that CpG sites in the regulatory regions of three genes of human neurotransmitter systems—BDNF, COMT, and CACNA1C—are hypermethylated that may lead to a decrease in the expression of these genes. The results obtained can be used as a basis for the development of diagnostic test systems and the search for pharmacological targets for the detection and correction of such pathologies.

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Funding

The results obtained in the project “Development of a methodology for determining the status of genetic loci and lifetime modification of DNA sites affecting the psychoemotional status of a person” of the research-and-technological program of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Development of Innovative Genogeographic and Genomic Technologies for Personal Identification and Individual Characteristics of a Person Based on the Study of the Gene Pools of the Regions of the Union State” (“DNA Identification”).

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Correspondence to I. B. Mosse.

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Statement of compliance with standards of research involving humans as subjects. All procedures performed in human research are in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national committee on research ethics and the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments or comparable standards of ethics.

Informed voluntary consent was obtained from each of the participants included in the study.

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Mosse, I.B., Sedlyar, N.G., Babenko, A.S. et al. Association between Methylation of Neuromediator Brain System Genes and Psychoemotional Human Characteristics. Russ J Genet 57, 1424–1429 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795421120115

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