Bipolar affective disorder in a genetic isolate

This study analysed 12 genomic regions showing previous evidence of linkage in a genome-wide scan of Gypsy (Roma) families in Bulgaria with bipolar affective   disorder (BPAD).

The Gypsies are a young founder population comprising multiple genetically differentiated sub-isolates with strong founder effect and limited genetic diversity. The BPAD families are connected by numerous inter-marriages, resulting in an 181-member super-pedigree. Six genomic regions were rejected, while chromosome regions 1p36, 13q31, 17p11, 17q21, 6q24 and 4q31 produced nominally significant results.

The best supported region was a 12 cM interval on 4q31, also implicated in previous studies, where we obtained significant results in the super-pedigree using both SimWalk 2 (p=0.004) and joint pseudomarker analysis of linkage and linkage disequilibrium (p=0.000056). The size of the region and the characteristics of the Gypsy population make it suitable for LD mapping.

Contact

Professor Luba Kalaydjieva +61 8 9346 3838 
Professor Assen Jablensky +61 8 9347 6416