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Abstract

Objective:

The role of the amygdala in emotion recognition is well established, and amygdala volume and emotion recognition performance have each been shown separately to be highly heritable traits, but the potential role of common genetic influences on both traits has not been explored. The authors investigated the pleiotropic influences of amygdala volume and emotion recognition performance.

Method:

In a sample of randomly selected extended pedigrees (N=858), the authors used a combination of univariate and bivariate linkage to investigate pleiotropy between amygdala volume and emotion recognition performance and followed up with association analysis.

Results:

The authors found a pleiotropic region for amygdala volume and emotion recognition performance on chromosome 4q26 (LOD score=4.40). Association analysis conducted in the region underlying the bivariate linkage peak revealed a variant meeting the corrected significance level (Bonferroni-corrected p=5.01×10−5) within an intron of PDE5A (rs2622497, p=4.4×10−5) as being jointly influential on both traits. PDE5A has been implicated previously in recognition-memory deficits and is expressed in subcortical structures that are thought to underlie memory ability, including the amygdala.

Conclusions:

This study extends our understanding of the shared etiology between the amygdala and emotion recognition by showing that the overlap between amygdala volume and emotion recognition performance is due at least in part to common genetic influences. Moreover, this study identifies a pleiotropic locus for the two traits and an associated variant, which localizes the genetic signal even more precisely. These results, when taken in the context of previous research, highlight the potential utility of PDE5 inhibitors for ameliorating emotion recognition deficits in individuals suffering from mental or neurodegenerative illness.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
American Journal of Psychiatry
Pages: 190 - 199
PubMed: 25322361

History

Received: 10 March 2014
Revision received: 13 June 2014
Accepted: 18 July 2014
Published ahead of print: 31 October 2014
Published online: 1 February 2015
Published in print: February 01, 2015

Authors

Details

Emma E.M. Knowles, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
D. Reese McKay, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Jack W. Kent, Jr., Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Emma Sprooten, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Melanie A. Carless, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Joanne E. Curran, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Marcio A.A. de Almeida, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Thomas D. Dyer, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Harald H.H. Göring, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Rene L. Olvera, M.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Ravi Duggirala, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Peter T. Fox, M.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
Laura Almasy, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
John Blangero, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.
David C. Glahn, Ph.D.
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Olin Neuropsychiatric Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn.; the Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio; the Department of Psychiatry and the Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; and South Texas Veterans Health System, San Antonio.

Notes

Address correspondence to Dr. Knowles ([email protected]).

Funding Information

National Institute of Mental Health10.13039/100000025: MH059490, MH078111, MH078143, MH083824
The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.Supported by NIMH grants MH078143 (principal investigator, Dr. Glahn), MH078111 (principal investigator, Dr. Blangero), and MH083824 (principal investigator, Dr. Glahn). SOLAR is supported by NIMH grant MH059490 (to Dr. Blangero).

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