THE GENETICS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER

Growing interest in the application of molecular biological techniques to psychiatric disorders has reinvigorated interest in the genetics o f the psychoses. It is therefore timely to review the current state of knowledge of the genetics of bipolar disorder. Family, twin and adopt ion studies are all consistent in confirming the strongly heritable na ture of this condition. As segregation analyses have been unable to de termine the mode of transmission of bipolar disorder, ongoing linkage analyses using DNA markers will be crucial in determining whether this condition is due to a single major gene, a small number of genes, or multifactorial polygenic inheritance.