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[Display omitted] Allergic asthma develops from allergen exposure in early childhood and progresses into adulthood. The central mediator of progressive allergic asthma is allergen-specific, T H 2–resident memory cells (TRMs). Although the crosstalk between nerves and immune cells plays an established role in acute allergic inflammation, whether nerves facilitate the establishment of T H 2-TRMs in the immature lung following early life allergen exposure is unknown. The aim of this study was to identify nerve-derived signals that act in T H 2 effector cells to regulate the tissue residency in the immature lung. Following neonatal allergen exposure, allergen-specific T H 2-TRMs were tracked temporally and spatially in relationship to developing sympathetic nerves in the lung. Functional mediators of dopamine signaling in the establishment of T H 2-TRMs were identified by in vitro bulk RNA-sequencing of dopamine-treated T H 2 cells followed by in vivo assessment of candidate genes using adoptive transfer of T H 2 cells with viral gene knockdown. This study found that sympathetic nerves produce dopamine and reside in proximity to T H 2 effector cells during the contraction phase following neonatal allergen exposure. Dopamine signals via DRD4 on T H 2 cells to elevate IL2RA and epigenetically facilitate type 2 cytokine expression. Blockade of dopamine-DRD4 signaling following neonatal allergen exposure impairs lung residence of T H 2 cells and ameliorates anamnestic inflammation in adults. These results demonstrate that maturing sympathetic nerves enable a dopamine-enriched lung environment in early life that promotes the establishment of allergen-specific T H 2-TRMs. The dopamine-DRD4 axis may provide a therapeutic target to modify allergic asthma progression from childhood to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Polo Argentino (PA) is a novel horse breed selected for practicing polo. • PA has been empirically selected for 40 years, yet lacks genomic analysis. • PA differed from Thoroughbreds in DRD4, MSTN, and LCORL gene frequencies. • Most PA´s were heterozygous for the MSTN-associated SNP. • Results suggest using these markers for early selection in the PA breed. The Polo Argentino (PA) horse is a recognized breed, developed originally by mixing crossbred and Thoroughbred (TB) horses to play polo. Early PA selection is difficult due to unreliable performance estimations. This study investigated the usefulness of genomic markers previously linked to morphological and functional traits as a tool for the early selection of PA. To this, we genotyped 520 PA and 30 TB horses using the Equine GGPArray (Illumina, n = 71,778 SNPs). Analyses included a genetic characterization of six genetic markers associated with behavioral (DRD4), muscular development (MSTN), and body size (LCORL, HMGA6, ZFAT, and LASP1) genes. Genetic differences in the DRD4, MSTN, and LCORL SNP were found between the two breeds, in the last two F ST index between breeds was 0.13 and 0.6, respectively (p < 0.01). In DRD4, G allele was the more prevalent in PA (0.56 vs 0.45 in TB, p < 0.05), but no differences were observed between the genotypes associated with phenotypes. In MSTN, heterozygous genotypes were the most common in PA (48 %), with a significant decrease in AA (Hardy-Weinberg p < 0.05), suggesting a negative selection against it in polo horses. In body size, HMGA2 was monomorphic in all horses, while ZFAT and LASP1 SNP showed higher variability. Interestingly, 99 % of PA showed a TT genotype in LCORL (only 66 % in TB), demonstrating selection for smaller horses. Our results suggest that empirical selection in PA has generated an incipient genomic differentiation in discrete traits which could be used as a marker-assisted selection tool for early selection of polo horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the evolutionary drivers of between-population variation of the human DRD4 exon III locus, a particular gene associated with the human personality trait of novelty-seeking behavior. Providing a novel compilation of worldwide DRD4 exon III allele frequencies in a large sample of indigenous populations around the world, this study employs population-specific biogeographic indicators to test the hypothesis of natural selection acting on the set of DRD4 exon III allele variants. The estimates suggest that migratory distance from East Africa and various population-specific biogeographic indicators, such as latitude, land suitability for agriculture, pasture land, and terrain ruggedness, contributed significantly to overall between-population DRD4 exon III polymorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: Twin studies have shown a strong genetic component for autism. Neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and catecholamines, have been suggested to play a role in the disease since they have an essential function in synaptogenesis and brain development. In this preliminary study, polymorphism of genes implicated in the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways have been examined in a Spanish population of children diagnosed with autism. Significant association with the disorder was found for the short allele in the promoter of the gene encoding the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4); in addition, a preferential maternal transmission of this allele to affected offspring was observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Individuals exhibit substantial heterogeneity in financial risk aversion. Recent work on twins demonstrated that some variation is influenced by individual heritable differences. Despite this, there has been no study investigating possible genetic loci associated with financial risk taking in healthy individuals. Here, we examined whether there is an association between financial risk preferences, elicited experimentally in a game with real monetary payoffs, and the presence of the 7-repeat allele (7R+) in the dopamine receptor D4 gene as well as the presence of the A1 allele (A1+) in the dopamine receptor D2 gene in 94 young men. Although we found no association between the A1 allele and risk preferences, we did find that 7R+ men are significantly more risk loving than 7R− men. This polymorphism accounts for roughly 20% of the heritable variation in financial risk taking. We suggest that selection for the 7R allele may be for a behavioral phenotype associated with risk taking. This is consistent with previous evolutionary explanations suggesting that selection for this allele was for behaviors associated with migration and male competition, both of which entail an element of risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The association of novelty seeking with a repeat polymorphism in the coding region of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) has been demonstrated in several human populations, but not in others. The objective of this study was to test the generality of the association in a captive nonhuman primate population of known history, using objective methods for assessing novelty seeking and a pedigree-based association design.Four hundred and fifty two socially-living vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) from a large multigenerational pedigree at the UCLA-VA Vervet Research Colony were studied. Two variants in the 48 base pair repeat in exon III of the DRD4 gene have been found in this population, a six-repeat (92%) and a less common five-repeat (8%). Novelty seeking was measured by the latency to approach a large and potentially threatening novel object placed in the home enclosure. Heritability of novelty seeking and the association of novelty seeking with the DRD4 polymorphism were assessed using variance component modeling as implemented in Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines.The variance component analysis indicated that the DRD4 variant explained a significant portion of the total variance in novelty seeking. The final model included a significant effect of the DRD4 polymorphism (P=0.03), which explained 13% of the phenotypic variance, and a significant remaining genetic effect (h2=0. 467±0.095, P<0.0001).The association of DRD4 with novelty seeking has now been replicated in a nonhuman primate species, the vervet monkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]