Children's DAT1 Polymorphism Moderates the Relationship Between Parents' Psychological Profiles, Children's DAT Methylation, and Their Emotional/Behavioral Functioning in a Normative Sample.

Silvia Cimino,Renata Tambelli,Claudio D’Addario,Eleonora Marzilli,Giulia Ballarotto,Walter Adriani,Luca Cerniglia,Esterina Pascale,Angelo Giovanni Icro Maremmani

doi:10.3390/ijerph16142567

Abstract

Parental psychopathological risk is considered as one of the most crucial features associated with epigenetic modifications in offspring, which in turn are thought to be related to their emotional/behavioral profiles. The dopamine active transporter (DAT) gene is suggested to play a significant role in affective/behavioral regulation. On the basis of the previous literature, we aimed at verifying whether children’s DAT1 polymorphisms moderated the relationship between parents’ psychological profiles, children’s emotional/behavioral functioning, and DAT1 methylation in a normative sample of 79 families with school-age children (Ntot = 237). Children’s biological samples were collected through buccal swabs, while Symptom Check-List-90 item Revised, Adult Self Report, and Child Behavior Check-List/6–18 was administered to assess parental and children’s psychological functioning. We found that higher maternal externalizing problems predicted the following: higher levels of children’s DAT1 methylation at M1, but only among children with 10/10 genotype; higher levels of methylation at M2 among children with 10/10 genotype; while lower levels for children with a 9-repeat allele. There was also a positive relationship between fathers’ externalizing problems and children’s externalizing problems, only for children with a 9-repeat allele. Our findings support emerging evidence of the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors in shaping children’ emotional/behavioral functioning, contributing to the knowledge of risk variables for a child’s development and psychological well-being.

Highlights

In recent decades, a growing amount of research has underlined the complex interplay between genes and the environment in shaping children’s development and emotional/behavioral adaptive functioning [1,2,3].Int
We included interaction terms between children’s genotype and all parental psychological variables considered in step 1
For children’s methylation of dopamine active transporter 1 (DAT1) gene at CpG M1, the results showed no significant predictors at the first step, but in step 2, it was predicted by the father’s externalizing problems (β = 1.02; t = 3.14; p = 0.003) and by the interaction between children’s DAT1 genotype and maternal externalizing problems (β = 0.54; t = 2.93; p = 0.006)

Summary

Methods

Thanks to the collaboration with primary schools of Central Italy, we recruited 117 families (composed of mothers, fathers, and one child) with children aged from 6 to 11 years old. The final sample was composed of 79 children (43 females and 36 males with age ranging from 6 to 11 years; M = 7.78 years; SD = 1.57), their mothers (M = 41.53 years; SD = 4.86), and their fathers (M = 43.83 years, SD = 5.10). The families were 100% Caucasian, and most of the families (88.61%). A large majority (97.47%) of families were intact family groups. 86.07% of children were first-born for both parents

Results

Discussion

Conclusion