Association Analysis Between The Polymorphism Of COMT & DAT With Children's General Ability (g) In QinBa Mountain

In this paper we study the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene and the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene with the proposal to found the relationship among these genes, the children general ability (g) and the children mental retardation (MR).There is a mutation (G/A) site at COMT's fourth extron, leading the amino acid change (valine/methionine) and alternative enzyme activity consequently; also a variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) is found in the 3' untranslated region of the DAT. In this paper we choose these genetic markers-the mutation site and the VNTR's polymorphisms, to analyze the association among the COMT, DAT genes and general ability (g), mental retardation(MR) as well directly (COMT) or indirectly (DAT) in QinBa Mountain's population.We have gathered the 261 (133 male and 128 female) children' genetic data and detailed intelligence quotient (IQ), and there are 105 children have been diagnosed MR. the alleles frequency of COMT are 0.76 (G) and 0.24 (A) respectively, the genotype frequency in sample were consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. There were no significant association in allele frequency and genotype polymorphism between different intelligence levels. However, the significant associations are found between the certain sub-intelligence tests and the polymorphism of COMT gene, for example, the significant difference is found between the lower verbal-intelligence-quotient group and marginal verbal-intelligence-quotient group divided by verbal-scale- criterion, with t=2.085 df=122, P<0.05. No associations are found between the MR patients and the controls.We also analyzed the polymorphism of DAT gene in the same region, there were 596 subjects studied, and no significant relationships were found between the alleles and the genotypes of DAT among the different IQ levels, the MR patients and controls as well.In this study, we can get the conclusion that, there is no significant association among the COMT and DAT genes, the general ability as well; also, these two genes have no significant association with MR, they are not the candidate genes of MR in this region.Zhang Kejin (Cognitive Neuroscience) Directed by-Zhang Fuchang & Zheng Zijian...