Epistasis between catechol-O-methyltransferase and type II metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 genes on working memory brain function.

ABSTRACT: Dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems are critical components responsible for prefrontal signal-to-noise tuning in working memory. Recent functional MRI (fMRI) studies of genetic variation in these systems in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and in metabotropic glutamate receptor mgluR3 (GRM3), respectively, suggest that these genes influence prefrontal physiological signal-to-noise in humans. Here, using fMRI, we extend these individual gene findings to examine the combined effects of COMT and GRM3 on dissociable components of the frontoparietal working memory network. We observed an apparent epistatic interaction of these two genes on the engagement of prefrontal cortex during working memory. Specifically, the GRM3 genotype putatively associated with suboptimal glutamatergic signalin

SUBMITTER: Tan HY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1920538 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature