Isles AR, Wilkinson LS
Neurobiology and Developmental Genetics Programmes, The Babraham Institute, Babraham, Cambridge, UK CB2 4AT.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2000 Aug;4(8):309-318. doi: 10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01504-7.
The idea that genes can influence behavioural predispositions and their underlying psychological determinants is becoming increasingly tractable. In this article, recent findings are reviewed on a special type of inheritance, related to the transmission of traits via what have been termed 'imprinted' genes. In imprinted genes one allele is silenced according to its parental origin. This results in the inheritance of traits down the maternal or paternal line, in contrast to the more frequent mode of inheritance that is indifferent to the parental origin of the allele. Drawing on the advances made possible by combining the approaches of cognitive neuropsychology, behavioural neuroscience and contemporary molecular genetics, the detailed evidence for imprinted effects on behavioural and cognitive phenotypes is considered, focusing on findings from mental disorders, Turner's syndrome and experimental work in animal models. As prevailing evolutionary theories stress an essential antagonistic role of imprinted effects, these data might link such apparently diverse issues as neurodevelopment and the vulnerability to mental disease with the 'battle of the sexes', as joined at the level of cognitive and behavioural functioning.
基因能够影响行为倾向及其潜在心理决定因素的观点正变得越来越易于研究。在本文中，我们将回顾有关一种特殊遗传类型的最新研究发现，这种遗传类型与通过所谓“印记”基因传递性状有关。在印记基因中，一个等位基因会根据其亲本来源而沉默。这导致性状沿母系或父系遗传，这与更常见的等位基因遗传模式不同，后者对等位基因的亲本来源不敏感。结合认知神经心理学、行为神经科学和当代分子遗传学的方法所取得的进展，我们将考虑印记对行为和认知表型影响的详细证据，重点关注精神障碍、特纳综合征以及动物模型实验工作的研究结果。由于主流进化理论强调印记效应的基本拮抗作用，这些数据可能会将神经发育和对精神疾病的易感性等看似不同的问题与“性别之战”联系起来，这种联系体现在认知和行为功能层面。
