Subcortical dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) signaling is implicated in cognitive processes and brain disorders, but the effect ofDRD2variants remains ambiguous. We measured allelic mRNA expression in postmortem human striatum and prefrontal cortex and then performed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) scans of theDRD2locus. A previously uncharacterized promoter SNP (rs12364283) located in a conserved suppressor region was associated with enhanced DRD2 expression, whereas previously studiedDRD2variants failed to affect expression. Moreover, two frequent intronic SNPs (rs2283265 and rs1076560) decreased expression of DRD2 short splice variant (expressed mainly presynaptically) relative to DRD2 long (postsynaptic), a finding reproducedin vitroby using minigene constructs. Being in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other, both intronic SNPs (but not rs12364283) were also associated with greater activity of striatum and prefrontal cortex measured with fMRI during working memory and with reduced performance in working memory and attentional control tasks in healthy humans. Our results identify regulatoryDRD2polymorphisms that modify mRNA expression and splicing and working memory pathways.

Functional polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and the dopamine transporter (DAT) genes modulate dopamine inactivation, which is crucial for determining neuronal signal-to-noise ratios in prefrontal cortex during working memory. We show that the COMT Met¹⁵⁸allele and the DAT 3′ variable number of tandem repeat 10-repeat allele are independently associated in healthy humans with more focused neuronal activity (as measured with blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging) in the working memory cortical network, including the prefrontal cortex. Moreover, subjects homozygous for the COMT Met allele and the DAT 10-repeat allele have the most focused response, whereas the COMT Val and the DAT 9-repeat alleles have the least. These results demonstrate additive genetic effects of genes regulating dopamine signaling on specific neuronal networks subserving working memory.

DNA methylation at CpG dinucleotides is associated with gene silencing, stress, and memory. The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val¹⁵⁸allele in rs4680 is associated with differential enzyme activity, stress responsivity, and prefrontal activity during working memory (WM), and it creates a CpG dinucleotide. We report that methylation of the Val¹⁵⁸allele measured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of Val/Val humans is associated negatively with lifetime stress and positively with WM performance; it interacts with stress to modulate prefrontal activity during WM, such that greater stress and lower methylation are related to reduced cortical efficiency; and it is inversely related to mRNA expression and protein levels, potentially explaining thein vivoeffects. Finally, methylation ofCOMTin prefrontal cortex and that in PBMCs of rats are correlated. The relationship of methylation of theCOMTVal¹⁵⁸allele with stress, gene expression, WM performance, and related brain activity suggests that stress-related methylation is associated with silencing of the gene, which partially compensates the physiological role of the high-activity Val allele in prefrontal cognition and activity. Moreover, these results demonstrate how stress-related DNA methylation of specific functional alleles impacts directly on human brain physiology beyond sequence variation.

Dopamine D2 receptor signalling is strongly implicated in the aetiology of schizophrenia. We have recently characterized the function of three DRD2 SNPs: rs12364283 in the promoter affecting total D2 mRNA expression; rs2283265 and rs1076560, respectively in introns 5 and 6, shifting mRNA splicing to two functionally distinct isoforms, the short form of D2 (D2S) and the long form (D2L). These two isoforms differentially contribute to dopamine signalling in prefrontal cortex and in striatum. We performed a case–control study to determine association of these variants and of their main haplotypes with several schizophrenia-related phenotypes. We demonstrate that the minor allele in the intronic variants is associated with reduced expression of %D2S of total mRNA in post-mortem prefrontal cortex, and with impaired working memory behavioural performance, both in patients and controls. However, the fMRI results show opposite effects in patients compared with controls: enhanced engagement of prefronto-striatal pathways in controls and reduced activity in patients. Moreover, the promoter variant is also associated with working memory activity in prefrontal cortex and striatum of patients, and less robustly with negative symptoms scores. Main haplotypes formed by the three DRD2 variants showed significant associations with these phenotypes consistent with those of the individual SNPs. Our results indicate that the three functional DRD2 variants modulate schizophrenia phenotypes possibly by modifying D2S/D2L ratios in the context of different total D2 density.

Personality traits related to emotion processing are, at least in part, heritable and genetically determined. Dopamine D₂receptor signaling is involved in modulation of emotional behavior and activity of associated brain regions such as the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. An intronic single nucleotide polymorphism within the D₂receptor gene (DRD2) (rs1076560, guanine > thymine or G > T) shifts splicing of the two protein isoforms (D₂short, mainly presynaptic, and D₂long) and has been associated with modulation of memory performance and brain activity. Here, our aim was to investigate the association ofDRD2rs1076560 genotype with personality traits of emotional stability and with brain physiology during processing of emotionally relevant stimuli.DRD2genotype and Big Five Questionnaire scores were evaluated in 134 healthy subjects demonstrating that GG subjects have reduced “emotion control” compared with GT subjects. Functional magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 24 individuals indicated greater amygdala activity during implicit processing and greater dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) response during explicit processing of facial emotional stimuli in GG subjects compared with GT. Other results also demonstrate an interaction betweenDRD2genotype and facial emotional expression on functional connectivity of both amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal regions with overlapping medial prefrontal areas. Moreover, rs1076560 genotype is associated with differential relationships between amygdala/DLPFC functional connectivity and emotion control scores. These results suggest that genetically determined D₂signaling may explain part of personality traits related to emotion processing and individual variability in specific brain responses to emotionally relevant inputs.

A common nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism leading to a serine‐to‐cysteine substitution at amino acid 704 (Ser⁷⁰⁴Cys) in the DISC1 protein sequence has been recently associated with schizophrenia and with specific hippocampal abnormalities. Here, we used multimodal neuroimaging to investigate in a large sample of healthy subjects the putative association of the Ser⁷⁰⁴Cys DISC1 polymorphism with in vivo brain phenotypes including hippocampal formation (HF) gray matter volume and function (as assessed with functional MRI) as well as HF functional coupling with the neural network engaged during encoding of recognition memory. Individuals homozygous for DISC1 Ser allele relative to carriers of the Cys allele showed greater gray matter volume in the HF. Further, Ser/Ser subjects exhibited greater engagement of the HF together with greater HF–dorsolateral prefrontal cortex functional coupling during memory encoding, in spite of similar behavioral performance. These findings consistently support the notion that Ser⁷⁰⁴Cys DISC1 polymorphism is physiologically relevant. Moreover, they support the hypothesis that genetic variation in DISC1 may affect the risk for schizophrenia by modifying hippocampal gray matter and function.