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. 2017 Apr:42:62-73.
doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2016.11.001. Epub 2016 Dec 28.

The Drosophila foraging gene human orthologue PRKG1 predicts individual differences in the effects of early adversity on maternal sensitivity

H Moriah Sokolowski  1 , Oscar E Vasquez  2 , Eva Unternaehrer  3 , Dustin J Sokolowski  4 , Stephanie D Biergans  2 , Leslie Atkinson  5 , Andrea Gonzalez  6 , Patricia P Silveira  3 , Robert Levitan  7 , Kieran J O'Donnell  3   8 , Meir Steiner  6   7 , James Kennedy  9 , Michael J Meaney  3   10   8 , Alison S Fleming  11 , Marla B Sokolowski  2   8
Affiliations

The Drosophila foraging gene human orthologue PRKG1 predicts individual differences in the effects of early adversity on maternal sensitivity

H Moriah Sokolowski et al. Cogn Dev. 2017 Apr.

Abstract

There is variation in the extent to which childhood adverse experience affects adult individual differences in maternal behavior. Genetic variation in the animal foraging gene, which encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase, contributes to variation in the responses of adult fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, to early life adversity and is also known to play a role in maternal behavior in social insects. Here we investigate genetic variation in the human foraging gene (PRKG1) as a predictor of individual differences in the effects of early adversity on maternal behavior in two cohorts. We show that the PRKG1 genetic polymorphism rs2043556 associates with maternal sensitivity towards their infants. We also show that rs2043556 moderates the association between self-reported childhood adversity of the mother and her later maternal sensitivity. Mothers with the TT allele of rs2043556 appeared buffered from the effects of early adversity, whereas mothers with the presence of a C allele were not. Our study used the Toronto Longitudinal Cohort (N=288 mother-16 month old infant pairs) and the Maternal Adversity and Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment Cohort (N=281 mother-18 month old infant pairs). Our findings expand the literature on the contributions of both genetics and gene-environment interactions to maternal sensitivity, a salient feature of the early environment relevant for child neurodevelopment.

Keywords: PRKG1; cGMP-dependent protein kinase; development; early adversity; foraging; gene-environment interaction; genetic variants; maternal sensitivity; microRNA; polymorphism.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRKG1 SNP rs2043556 by maternal early experience (CTQ) interactions on maternal sensitivity (MBQS) in the Toronto Longitudinal and MAVAN cohorts. MBQS and CTQ are plotted for individual mothers (N=288) for the Toronto cohort and (N=281) for MAVAN) A) The Toronto cohort: maternal genotype is provided for TT as dark circles (NTT=183) and CT and CC open circles (NCT&CC=103). TT mothers are well buffered to a history of adversity when they were children (solid line). In contrast, C-carriers (CT or CC) at rs2043556 exhibit a decreasing slope (dotted line) reflecting the sensitivity of these mothers to early adversity as measured by CTQ. B) The MAVAN Cohort: maternal genotype is provided for TT as dark circles (NTT= 182) and CT open circles (NCT=83). The flat regression line shown for TT (solid line) suggests that TT is well buffered from early adversity (CTQ) whereas the CT genotype (dotted line) is not.
Figure 1
Figure 1
PRKG1 SNP rs2043556 by maternal early experience (CTQ) interactions on maternal sensitivity (MBQS) in the Toronto Longitudinal and MAVAN cohorts. MBQS and CTQ are plotted for individual mothers (N=288) for the Toronto cohort and (N=281) for MAVAN) A) The Toronto cohort: maternal genotype is provided for TT as dark circles (NTT=183) and CT and CC open circles (NCT&CC=103). TT mothers are well buffered to a history of adversity when they were children (solid line). In contrast, C-carriers (CT or CC) at rs2043556 exhibit a decreasing slope (dotted line) reflecting the sensitivity of these mothers to early adversity as measured by CTQ. B) The MAVAN Cohort: maternal genotype is provided for TT as dark circles (NTT= 182) and CT open circles (NCT=83). The flat regression line shown for TT (solid line) suggests that TT is well buffered from early adversity (CTQ) whereas the CT genotype (dotted line) is not.
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