PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE FOR AN ASSOCIATION OF A DINUCLEOTIDE REPEAT POLYMORPHISM AT THE MAOA GENE WITH EARLY-ONSET ALCOHOLISM SUBSTANCE ABUSE/

An association between the liability to early onset alcoholism/substan ce abuse and a recently discovered dinucleotide repeat length polymorp hism at the MAOA gene (MAOCA-1) was examined using polymerase chain re action (PCR), A significant correlation between the presence/absence o f the disorder and the length of the MAOCA-1 repeat was found in males , but not females, with ''long'' alleles (repeat length above 115 bp) associated with both increased risk for the disorder and lower age of onset of substance abuse, These preliminary data suggest that further exploration of the relationship between the MAOA gene and behavioral t raits in an expanded sample is warranted. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.