A mu-opioid receptor single nucleotide polymorphism in rhesus monkey: association with stress response and aggression
Variations in the human mu-opioid receptor gene have driven exploration of their biochemical, physiological and pathological relevance. We investigated the existence of variations in the nonhuman primate mu-opioid receptor gene to determine whether nonhuman primates can model genotype/phenotype asso...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Molecular psychiatry 2004-01, Vol.9 (1), p.99-108 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Variations in the human mu-opioid receptor gene have driven exploration of their biochemical, physiological and pathological relevance. We investigated the existence of variations in the nonhuman primate mu-opioid receptor gene to determine whether nonhuman primates can model genotype/phenotype associations of relevance to humans. Similar to the A118G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the human mu-opioid receptor gene, a SNP discovered in the rhesus monkey mu-opioid receptor gene (C77G) alters an amino acid in the N-terminal arm of the receptor (arginine for proline at position 26). Two mu-opioid receptor coding regions isolated from a single heterozygous (C77/G77) rhesus monkey brain were expressed in HEK-293 cells and characterized in radioreceptor assays. Paralleling the findings of increased affinity of
β
-endorphin by the A118G allele in the human, the rhesus monkey mu-opioid receptor protein derived from the G77-containing clone demonstrated a 3.5-fold greater affinity for
β
-endorphin than the receptor derived from the C77-containing clone. An assay developed to assess the incidence of the C77G SNP in a behaviorally and physiologically characterized cohort of rhesus monkeys (
n
=32) indicated that 44% were homozygous for C77-containing alleles, 50% were heterozygous and 6% were homozygous for G77-containing alleles. The presence of G77-containing alleles was associated with significantly lower basal and ACTH-stimulated plasma cortisol levels (
P |
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ISSN: | 1359-4184 1476-5578 |
DOI: | 10.1038/sj.mp.4001378 |