QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI FOR NEUROTICISM - AN ALLELIC ASSOCIATION STUDY WITH THE SEROTONIN RECEPTOR (HTR2) AND MONOAMINE-OXIDASE-A (MAOA) GENES

Neuroticism is an important liability factor for the development of an xiety and depressive disorders. Genetic studies of these disorders mig ht be more profitably focused on this liability trait than on the diso rders themselves. Quantitative genetic studies have shown a heritabili ty of similar to 0.42 for neuroticism. Advances in molecular genetics now make it possible to identify allelic variation at particular loci associated with such quantitative traits. Reported here are the result s of an allelic association study of neuroticism with two candidate ge nes: the serotonin receptor (HTR2) and monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) gen es. As a secondary issue, associations with extraversion were also inv estigated. Elderly subjects aged 70(+) participating in a longitudinal study were assessed for neuroticism and extraversion on the first wav e of the study and DNA was collected on the second wave, 3.6 years lat er. Data on both neuroticism and genotype were available for 432 subje cts. No associations were found between genotype and either personalit y trait, despite there being sufficient statistical power to detect sm all associations. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.