Study on the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphism of monoamine oxidase A gene and anger regulation

Objective To study the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) and anger regulation. Methods Enrolled were healthy students from some college, including 225 of the high trait anger and 221 of the low trait anger. Subjects were recruited referring to the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2 (STAXI-2) and their blood sampled. The DNA was extracted using phenol-chloroform method, 4 tag SNPs of MAOA (rs5906957, rs2235186, rs1181275, and rs5905613) were genotyped by PCR-based ligase detection reaction (PCR-LDR). The scores for trait anger expression inventory and the scores for trait anger expression control at the 4 tag SNPs of MAOA in the different sexes groups of the high and the low trait anger were statistical analyzed. Results There was statistical difference in anger control score of locus rs2235186 of MAOA gene group (P=0.037). There was no significant difference in anger expression or anger control score of different genotypes of the other three tag SNPs (P0.05). Conclusion MAOA gene tag SNP rs2235186 was correlated with anger control traits of healthy female college students of the low trait anger in China.