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. 2015 Feb 9:5:8325.
doi: 10.1038/srep08325.

Handedness and the X chromosome: the role of androgen receptor CAG-repeat length

Larissa Arning  1 , Sebastian Ocklenburg  2 , Stefanie Schulz  2 , Vanessa Ness  2 , Wanda M Gerding  1 , Jan G Hengstler  3 , Michael Falkenstein  3 , Jörg T Epplen  1 , Onur Güntürkün  2 , Christian Beste  4
Affiliations

Handedness and the X chromosome: the role of androgen receptor CAG-repeat length

Larissa Arning et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Prenatal androgen exposure has been suggested to be one of the factors influencing handedness, making the androgen receptor gene (AR) a likely candidate gene for individual differences in handedness. Here, we examined the relationship between the length of the CAG-repeat in AR and different handedness phenotypes in a sample of healthy adults of both sexes (n = 1057). Since AR is located on the X chromosome, statistical analyses in women heterozygous for CAG-repeat lengths are complicated by X chromosome inactivation. We thus analyzed a sample of women that were homozygous for the CAG-repeat length (n = 77). Mixed-handedness in men was significantly associated with longer CAG-repeat blocks and women homozygous for longer CAG-repeats showed a tendency for stronger left-handedness. These results suggest that handedness in both sexes is associated with the AR CAG-repeat length, with longer repeats being related to a higher incidence of non-right-handedness. Since longer CAG-repeat blocks have been linked to less efficient AR function, these results implicate that differences in AR signaling in the developing brain might be one of the factors that determine individual differences in brain lateralization.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Handedness Direction 2 phenotypes (left-handed, mixed-handed, right-handed) in relation to CAG-repeat length for male (A) and female participants (B: short allele; C: long allele).
Error bars show standard error.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Absolute handedness LQ in relation to the AR CAG-repeat length.
The black line indicates the central tendency of the relationship between the two variables.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Handedness LQ in relation to the AR CAG-repeat length for the 77 female participants with homozygous CAG-repeat genotypes.
The black line indicates the central tendency of the relationship between the two variables.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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