Supportive evidence for contribution of the dopamine D2 receptor gene to heritability of stature: linkage and association studies

Increases in height were reported in children chronically exposed prenatall y and postnatally to D2 receptor-blocking drugs. A possible haplotypic asso ciation between stature and the DRD2 gene was also reported. In this study, we examined linkage between stature and DRD2 by genotyping a dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in 79 sib-pairs aged 8-17 years. An association between stature and a putative functional polymorphism in the promoter region of t he DRD2 gene eras examined in the sib-pairs and in 125 unrelated male adult s. All the subjects were Japanese. Linkage (p = 0.004, SIBPAL) and an assoc iation (p = 0.009, paired t-test, in the sib-pairs; p = 0.006, ANOVA, in th e adults) with stature were suggested. These findings indicate that DRD2 is one of the genes that contribute to heritability of stature.