A four-site haplotype system at the dopamine D2 receptor locus (DRD2) has been studied in a global sample of 28 distinct populations. The haplotype system spans about 25 kb, encompassing the coding region of the gene. The four individual markers include three TaqI restriction site polymorphisms (RSPs) -- TaqI "A", "B", and "D" sites -- and one dinucleotide short tandem repeat polymorphism (STRP). All four of the marker systems are polymorphic in all regions of the world and in most individual populations. The haplotype system shows the highest average heterozygosity in Africa, a slightly lower average heterozygosity in Europe, and the lowest average heterozygosities in East Asia and the Americas. Across all populations, 20 of the 48 possible haplotypes reached a frequency of at least 5% in at least one population sample. However, no single population had more than six haplotypes reaching that frequency. In general, African populations had more haplotypes present in each population and more haplotypes occurring at a frequency of at least 5% in that population. Permutation tests for significance of overall disequilibrium (all sites considered simultaneously) were highly significant (P<0.001) in all 28 populations. Except for three African samples, the pairwise disequilibrium between the outermost RSP markers, TaqI "B" and "A", was highly significant with D' values greater than 0.8; in two of those exceptions the RSP marker was not polymorphic. Except for those same two African populations, the 16-repeat allele at the STRP also showed highly significant disequilibrium with the TaqI "B" site in all populations, with D' values usually greater than 0.7. Only four haplotypes account for more than 70% of all chromosomes in virtually all non-African populations, and two of those haplotypes account for more than 70% of all chromosomes in most East Asian and Amerindian populations. A new measure of the amount of overall disequilibrium shows least disequilibrium in African populations, somewhat more in European populations, and the greatest amount in East Asian and Amerindian populations. This pattern seems best explained by random genetic drift with low levels of recombination, a low mutation rate at the STRP, and essentially no recurrent mutation at the RSP sites, all in conjunction with an "Out of Africa" model for recent human evolution.

Multiple endocrine neoplasis type 2A (MEN2A) is one of several kinds of cancers that appear to be inherited in an autosomally dominant fashion. We have assigned the MEN2A locus to chromosome 10 by linkage with a new DNA marker (D10S5). The linkage led us to investigate other chromosome 10 markers and demonstrate linkage between the disease locus and the interstitial retinol-binding protein (IRBP) gene. The D10S5 locus was sublocalized to 10q21.1 by hybridization in situ and the IRBP gene to p11.2----q11.2 with a secondary site at q24----q25. The linkages were established using 292 members of five families, three different restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at D10S5 and two RFLPs recognized by the IRBP probe. The recombination frequencies from pairwise linkage analysis between the disease and two marker loci D10S5 and IRBP were 0.19 and 0.11, with maximum lod scores of 3.6 and 8.0 respectively. Ordering of the three loci by multipoint analysis placed the IRBP gene approximately midway between the disease and D10S5 loci.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness with a typically chronic course affecting nearly 1% of the human population. It is generally accepted that genetic factors have an important pathogenic role in a substantial portion of schizophrenia cases; however, despite decades of family studies, there is no agreed-upon mode of inheritance. The discovery of genetic aetiologic factors and resolution of the inheritance pattern(s) will undoubtably emerge from genetic linkage studies. With these objectives in mind, we undertook a linkage project, starting in 1985, in a previously well-documented kindred from north Sweden. Multipoint linkage analyses were used to screen the proximal long arm of chromosome 5 using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers at five loci and the distal long arm using RFLPs at two loci, one of which was the locus for the glucocorticoid receptor. We found strong evidence against linkage between schizophrenia and the seven loci. These results, together with the positive evidence for linkage of schizophrenia with markers in the proximal long arm of chromosome 5 lead us to conclude that the genetic factors underlying schizophrenia are heterogeneous.

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In recent years, a possible role of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) locus in the etiology of alcoholism has been the focus of considerable attention. The literature now contains a mix of association studies with positive and negative conclusions. Various methodological flaws undermine the claims in many of the studies that conclude a positive association exists between alcoholism and the DRD2*A1 allele at the Taql "A" site. Although the studies with negative findings have more often come from studies using better analytic methodology, satisfactory resolution of whether or not genetic variation at the DRD2 locus plays some role in the etiology of alcoholism is unlikely to come from additional studies of the kind conducted thus far; an approach enlightened by a more thorough understanding of the population genetics of DRD2 and the phylogenetic origins of the DRD2 alleles is one alternative. If genetic variation at the DRD2 locus affects susceptibility to alcoholism, then such variation has a mutational and evolutionary history that can be traced with the aid of the various genetic polymorphisms that have been identified at the DRD2 locus. In this study, a third Taql restriction fragment-length polymorphism at DRD2, the Taql "D" site, has been converted to polymerase chain reaction-based typing and its frequencies determined in 22 populations from around the world. Haplotypes defined by the polymorphisms at the Taql "B" and "A" sites, and the short tandem repeat polymorphism in intron 2 have been constructed and the diversity of haplotypes containing the DRD2*A1 allele examined for all 22 populations. The ancestral origins of the three Taql polymorphisms have also been determined by sequencing the homologous regions in other higher primates. Because A1-containing haplotypes in populations of European, Middle Eastern, and African origin show considerable diversity within and among populations, properly designed association studies in populations descended from those areas of the world need to use haplotypes, not a single allelic system, and need to use appropriate methods to compensate for the near impossibility of genetically matching unrelated control samples.