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Sadaghiani S, Ng B, Altmann A, Poline JB, Banaschewski T, Bokde ALW, Bromberg U, Büchel C, Burke Quinlan E, Conrod P, Desrivières S, Flor H, Frouin V, Garavan H, Gowland P, Gallinat J, Heinz A, Ittermann B, Martinot JL, Paillère Martinot ML, Lemaitre H, Nees F, Papadopoulos Orfanos D, Paus T, Poustka L, Millenet S, Fröhner JH, Smolka MN, Walter H, Whelan R, Schumann G, Napolioni V, Greicius M. Overdominant Effect of a CHRNA4 Polymorphism on Cingulo-Opercular Network Activity and Cognitive Control. J Neurosci 2017; 37:9657-9666. [PMID: 28877969 PMCID: PMC6596609 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0991-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2017] [Revised: 08/20/2017] [Accepted: 08/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The nicotinic system plays an important role in cognitive control and is implicated in several neuropsychiatric conditions. However, the contributions of genetic variability in this system to individuals' cognitive control abilities are poorly understood and the brain processes that mediate such genetic contributions remain largely unidentified. In this first large-scale neuroimaging genetics study of the human nicotinic receptor system (two cohorts, males and females, fMRI total N = 1586, behavioral total N = 3650), we investigated a common polymorphism of the high-affinity nicotinic receptor α4β2 (rs1044396 on the CHRNA4 gene) previously implicated in behavioral and nicotine-related studies (albeit with inconsistent major/minor allele impacts). Based on our prior neuroimaging findings, we expected this polymorphism to affect neural activity in the cingulo-opercular (CO) network involved in core cognitive control processes including maintenance of alertness. Consistent across the cohorts, all cortical areas of the CO network showed higher activity in heterozygotes compared with both types of homozygotes during cognitive engagement. This inverted U-shaped relation reflects an overdominant effect; that is, allelic interaction (cumulative evidence p = 1.33 * 10-5). Furthermore, heterozygotes performed more accurately in behavioral tasks that primarily depend on sustained alertness. No effects were observed for haplotypes of the surrounding CHRNA4 region, supporting a true overdominant effect at rs1044396. As a possible mechanism, we observed that this polymorphism is an expression quantitative trait locus modulating CHRNA4 expression levels. This is the first report of overdominance in the nicotinic system. These findings connect CHRNA4 genotype, CO network activation, and sustained alertness, providing insights into how genetics shapes individuals' cognitive control abilities.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The nicotinic acetylcholine system plays a central role in neuromodulatory regulation of cognitive control processes and is dysregulated in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite this functional importance, no large-scale neuroimaging genetics studies have targeted the contributions of genetic variability in this system to human brain activity. Here, we show the impact of a common polymorphism of the high-affinity nicotinic receptor α4β2 that is consistent across brain activity and behavior in two large human cohorts. We report a hitherto unknown overdominant effect (allelic interaction) at this locus, where the heterozygotes show higher activity in the cingulo-opercular network underlying alertness maintenance and higher behavioral alertness performance than both homozygous groups. This gene-brain-behavior relationship informs about the biological basis of interindividual differences in cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sepideh Sadaghiani
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305,
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Urbana, Illinois 61801
| | - Bernard Ng
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
- Department of Statistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Andre Altmann
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
- Translational Imaging Group, Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | | | - Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Arun L W Bokde
- Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Uli Bromberg
- University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christian Büchel
- University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Erin Burke Quinlan
- Medical Research Council, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
| | - Patricia Conrod
- Medical Research Council, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
| | - Sylvane Desrivières
- Medical Research Council, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
| | - Herta Flor
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, 68131 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Vincent Frouin
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Hugh Garavan
- Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405
| | - Penny Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
| | - Jürgen Gallinat
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Andreas Heinz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Bernd Ittermann
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, 10587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Jean-Luc Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM Unit 1000 "Neuroimaging & Psychiatry", University Paris Sud - Paris Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France
- University Paris Descartes, 75006 Paris, France
- Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, 91400 Orsay, France
- Maison de Solenn, Cochin Hospital, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot
- University Paris Descartes, 75006 Paris, France
- AP-HP, Department of Adolescent Psychopathology and Medicine, Maison de Solenn, Cochin Hospital, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Hervé Lemaitre
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM Unit 1000 "Neuroimaging & Psychiatry", University Paris Sud - Paris Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Tomáš Paus
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada
| | - Luise Poustka
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Sabina Millenet
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, 68159 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Juliane H Fröhner
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany, and
| | - Michael N Smolka
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany, and
| | - Henrik Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Robert Whelan
- School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Gunter Schumann
- Medical Research Council, Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
| | - Valerio Napolioni
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
| | - Michael Greicius
- Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
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Fraïsse C, Gunnarsson PA, Roze D, Bierne N, Welch JJ. The genetics of speciation: Insights from Fisher's geometric model. Evolution 2016; 70:1450-64. [PMID: 27252049 DOI: 10.1111/evo.12968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2015] [Accepted: 05/22/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Research in speciation genetics has uncovered many robust patterns in intrinsic reproductive isolation, and fitness landscape models have been useful in interpreting these patterns. Here, we examine fitness landscapes based on Fisher's geometric model. Such landscapes are analogous to models of optimizing selection acting on quantitative traits, and have been widely used to study adaptation and the distribution of mutational effects. We show that, with a few modifications, Fisher's model can generate all of the major findings of introgression studies (including "speciation genes" with strong deleterious effects, complex epistasis and asymmetry), and the major patterns in overall hybrid fitnesses (including Haldane's Rule, the speciation clock, heterosis, hybrid breakdown, and male-female asymmetry in the F1). We compare our approach to alternative modeling frameworks that assign fitnesses to genotypes by identifying combinations of incompatible alleles. In some cases, the predictions are importantly different. For example, Fisher's model can explain conflicting empirical results about the rate at which incompatibilities accumulate with genetic divergence. In other cases, the predictions are identical. For example, the quality of reproductive isolation is little affected by the manner in which populations diverge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christelle Fraïsse
- Université Montpellier, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, UMR 5554, Montpellier Cedex 05, France.,CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, UMR 5554, OREME Station Marine, Sète, France.,Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - P Alexander Gunnarsson
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Denis Roze
- CNRS, UMI 3614, Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Algae, Roscoff, France.,Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University Paris VI, Roscoff, France
| | - Nicolas Bierne
- Université Montpellier, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, UMR 5554, Montpellier Cedex 05, France.,CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution, UMR 5554, OREME Station Marine, Sète, France
| | - John J Welch
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
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