Chen Chunhui, Liu Chang, Chen Chuansheng, Moyzis Robert, Chen Wen, Dong Qi
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Physiol Behav. 2015 Jan;138:62-8. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.09.005. Epub 2014 Oct 20.
Aggressive behavior is a major public health problem worldwide and has been associated with many gene variants, especially those related to the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) system, and environmental factors. However, the overall contribution of serotonin-related genes to aggressive behavior is not well understood. With a sample of 478 healthy Chinese volunteers, this study investigated the relation between aggressive behavior and genetic variations of the serotoninergic system (as characterized by 129 representative polymorphisms) interacting with environmental factors (parental warmth and acceptance; stressful life events). We adopted a system-level approach to identify SNPs and environmental factors associated with aggressive behavior, and estimated their overall contribution to aggressive behavior using multiple regression, which was then verified by permutation analysis. We identified 12 SNPs that made statistically significant contributions to aggressive behavior. Next, main effects, interactions among these SNPs, and interactions between these SNPs and environmental factors were assessed using multiple regression. The final model accounted for approximately 19% of the variance for aggressive behavior. Permutation analysis confirmed that the probability of obtaining these findings by chance was low (p=0.045, permuted for 1000 times). These results showed that genetic variations in the serotoninergic system, combined with environmental risk factors, made a moderate contribution to individual differences in aggressive behavior among a healthy population sample.
攻击性行为是全球范围内一个主要的公共卫生问题，并且与许多基因变异有关，尤其是那些与血清素（5-羟色胺，5-HT）系统相关的基因变异以及环境因素。然而，血清素相关基因对攻击性行为的总体贡献尚未得到充分理解。本研究以478名健康的中国志愿者为样本，调查了攻击性行为与血清素能系统的基因变异（以129个代表性多态性为特征）与环境因素（父母的温暖和接纳；应激性生活事件）之间的关系。我们采用系统层面的方法来识别与攻击性行为相关的单核苷酸多态性（SNPs）和环境因素，并使用多元回归估计它们对攻击性行为的总体贡献，然后通过置换分析进行验证。我们识别出12个对攻击性行为有统计学显著贡献的SNPs。接下来，使用多元回归评估这些SNPs的主效应及其之间的相互作用，以及这些SNPs与环境因素之间的相互作用。最终模型解释了攻击性行为约19%的方差。置换分析证实，偶然获得这些结果的概率很低（p = 0.045，置换1000次）。这些结果表明，血清素能系统的基因变异与环境风险因素相结合，对健康人群样本中攻击性行为的个体差异有适度贡献。
