Beyond orchids and dandelions: testing the 5-HTT "risky" allele for evidence of phenotypic capacitance and frequency-dependent selection.

ABSTRACT: The persistence of behaviorally deleterious genes in the human population poses an interesting question for population genetics: If certain alleles at these loci are deleterious, why have they survived in the population? We consider evidence for phenotypic capacitance and/or frequency-dependent selection for an allele that has been putatively shown to have negative associations with human behaviors (the "short" 5-HTT promoter region allele) yet has persisted in human and nonhuman primate populations. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we compare sibling and twin variation in depression by 5-HTT genotype (specified in several ways) and investigate sibship-level cross-person gene-gene interactions. In support of the "orchid/dandelion" hypothesis, we find ev

SUBMITTER: Conley D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3690663 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature