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No association between dopamine D4 receptor gene exon III and –521C/T polymorphism and Novelty Seeking

Molecular Psychiatry volume 7, pages 537–538 (2002)Cite this article

SIR – Over the last years, a potential association between the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene exon III polymorphism and the personality trait of Novelty Seeking1,2 has attracted remarkable attention. Although several reports including our own3 have provided further evidence for an association between the DRD4 exon III 7 repeat allele and higher scores in Novelty Seeking, a number of studies failed to replicate the initial findings.4 A recently identified single nucleotide polymorphism (−521C/T) in the promoter region of the DRD4 gene,5 which is associated with variation in transcriptional efficiency, has also been reported to affect individual differences in Novelty Seeking.5,6 In these studies, the presence of the T allele (resulting in reduced transcriptional efficiency) was associated with significantly lower scores in Novelty Seeking. The aim of the present study was an investigation whether both the DRD4 exon III and the DRD4 −521C/T polymorphism are associated with individual differences in Novelty Seeking.

Two hundred and seventy-six unrelated healthy volunteers of German ethnicity (205 women and 71 men; mean age: 21.9 ± 3.9 years, age range: 18–41 years) completed the German version of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire,7 and individual DRD4 exon III genotypes were determined as previously described.1 For determination of DRD4 −521 C/T genotypes, oligonucleotide primers (DRD4/627F, 5′-CGGGGGCTGAGCACCAGAGGCTGCT and DRD4/343R, 5′-GCATCGACGCCAGCGCCATCCTACC) were used to generate a 285-bp fragment. PCR amplification was performed for 37 cycles at 60°C (45 s), 72°C (45 s), and 95°C (45 s) in a final volume of 25 μl containing 100 ng of genomic DNA, 20 pmol of each primer, 200 μM of each dNTP, 1.0 mM MgCl2, 50 mM KCl, 10 mM Tris HCl (pH 8.3 at 25°C), 0.025 mg ml−1 BSA, 0.025% Tween 20, and 0.5 U of Taq DNA polymerase (Eurogentec, Seraing, Belgium). PCR products were analysed by FspI digestion followed by separation of the resulting fragments on agarose gels containing 2% ethidium bromide next to a DNA size standard. The two polymorphisms were in significant linkage disequilibrium (D′ = 0.20, P = 0.005; calculation performed with 2LD, http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/IoP/Departments/Psych Med/GEpiBSt/software.stm).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, Germany

    A Strobel, K Anacker & B Brocke

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Germany

    K P Lesch, K Hohenberger & S Jatzke

  3. Institute of Zoology, Dresden University of Technology, Germany

    H O Gutzeit

Authors
  1. A Strobel
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  2. K P Lesch
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  3. K Hohenberger
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  4. S Jatzke
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  5. H O Gutzeit
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  6. K Anacker
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  7. B Brocke
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Correspondence to A Strobel.

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Strobel, A., Lesch, K., Hohenberger, K. et al. No association between dopamine D4 receptor gene exon III and –521C/T polymorphism and Novelty Seeking. Mol Psychiatry 7, 537–538 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001027

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