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Lack of association between dopamine D4 receptor gene and personality traits
E G Jönsson1, M M Nöthen, J P Gustavsson
1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Background:
Personality traits have shown considerable heritable components. Association between alleles of a polymorphism in the third exon of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) and the personality trait Novelty Seeking has been reported. Recently, in a sample of Swedish non-psychiatric subjects we could not detect any significant relationships between the same polymorphism and Novelty Seeking related scales in the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP). However, there was a tendency in the direction of the proposed association. There were also tentative associations between an exon I 13 bp deletion polymorphism and the personality traits Socialization and Guilt.
Methods:
We investigated a new Swedish population-based sample (N = 167) investigated with the KSP for three DRD4 polymorphisms.
Results:
Neither of the previous results were replicated. Combining the previous and the present samples did not give rise to any significant association between DRD4 polymorphisms and personality scales.
Conclusions:
The dopamine D4 receptor gene is probably not of importance to the different personality dimensions as measured by the Karolinska Scales of Personality.