Tandem duplication polymorphism upstream of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4)

M. I. Seaman, J. B. Fisher, F. M. Chang, Kenneth K. Kidd

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

94 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) is a member of the D2-like dopamine receptor family. Polymorphisms at the DRD4 gene have been examined for association with a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders and normal behavioral variation. The DRD4 gene is unusual in its high amount of expressed polymorphism in humans. Here we study the identification of a polymorphic tandem duplication of 120 bp located 1.2 kb upstream of the initiation codon. The duplicated region contains consensus sequences of binding sites for several known transcription factors, suggesting that different alleles may differ in their transcriptional activity. Because chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans lack the duplication, the duplicated allele is inferred to be derived. The frequency of this derived duplication allele ranges from 0.40-0.81 in the 11 populations from around the world typed for this polymorphism.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)705-709
Number of pages5
JournalAmerican Journal of Medical Genetics - Neuropsychiatric Genetics
Volume88
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999 Dec 15

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Genetics(clinical)
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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