5-HTTLPR

Vorrei capirci di più dei rapporti tra genetica e tratti culturali - per esempio, l'individualismo.

Per ora mi è chiara una cosa: se mamma e papà del 5-HTTLPR ne avevano, con me se lo son tenuti tutto loro. E inoltre, i miei avi non vivevano in terra malarica, e se ci vivevano, gli faceva un baffo.

E un'altra: per l'analisi genetica, gli uomini veri non usano il microscopio: si affidano all'introspezione.

(nella foto: l'5-HTTLPR mancante)

"We found evidence that collectivistic cultures were significantly more likely to comprise individuals carrying the short (S) allele of the 5-HTTLPR across 29 nations. Results further show that historical pathogen prevalence predicts cultural variability in individualism–collectivism owing to genetic selection of the S allele. Additionally, cultural values and frequency of S allele carriers negatively predict global prevalence of anxiety and mood disorder. Finally, mediation analyses further indicate that increased frequency of S allele carriers predicted decreased anxiety and mood disorder prevalence owing to increased collectivistic cultural values. Taken together, our findings suggest culture–gene coevolution between allelic frequency of 5-HTTLPR and cultural values of individualism–collectivism and support the notion that cultural values buffer genetically susceptible populations from increased prevalence of affective disorders."

Chiao, Joan Y. e Blizinsky, Katherine D. (2010), Culture–gene coevolution of individualism–collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene, Proc. R. Soc. B, 277, 529–537