Original articlesPopulation Migration and the Variation of Dopamine D4 Receptor (DRD4) Allele Frequencies Around the Globe
Section snippets
Data on the Gene
Data on the global distribution of DRD4 allele frequencies were compiled from 12 studies Castro et al. 1997, Chang et al. 1996, Ebstein et al. 1996, Gelernter et al. 1997, Geijer et al. 1997, Hong et al. 1997, Inoue et al. 1993, Li et al. 1997, Nanko et al. 1993, Ono et al. 1997, Petronis et al. 1992, Tanaka et al. 1995. [It should be noted that most studies included both samples with psychiatric disorders and controls. Only data from controls (i.e., normal samples) were included in this
Association between Migration and DRD4 Allele Frequencies
Table 2 shows societies' names, geographical locations, macro-migration, the two indices of DRD4 allele frequency distribution, and allele sample size. Results are shown separately by migration routes. Overall, a clear and common pattern emerged from these data. The populations that remained near their origins showed a lower proportion of long alleles of DRD4 than those that migrated farther away. This finding was consistent across all six migration routes.
For the first route of migration (from
Discussion
Given the common origin of human beings, genetic variations among groups mainly result from spontaneous mutation, founders' effects, and natural selection. The systematic and strong association between migration and the allele frequencies of the DRD4 gene has ruled out proposals about spontaneous mutation or genetic drift (Chang et al. 1996). We also provided indirect evidence that founders' effects cannot adequately account for the global variations in the DRD4 gene. Taken together with all
Endnote
Levinson 1991
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank James Swanson for introducing us to the research on DRD4 and Carol Whalen for educating us about the research on ADHD. We also want to thank Henry Harpending, Kim Romney, Harry Triandis, George Knight, Martin Daly, Margo Wilson, and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on an earlier version of this article. Finally, we are indebted to Malcolm Dow for suggesting the network regression approach.
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