BACKGROUND The association between childhood maltreatment and subsequent aggressive behaviour is modified by monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) functional polymorphism (MAOA-uVNTR) genotype, MAOA-Long (MAOA-L) in females, MAOA-Short (MAOA-S) in males. Childhood maltreatment is associated with differential DNA methylation in several genes. Consistent with recent proposals, we hypothesized that the association of the interaction of MAOA genotype and maltreatment with aggressive behaviour is further moderated by methylation of a region of interest (ROI) spanning the first exon and partial first intron of MAOA. METHOD The sample included 117 women and 77 men who completed interviews and questionnaires to report maltreatment and aggressive behaviour towards others and provided saliva samples for DNA extraction. The MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism was genotyped, and methylation of the MAOA ROI was assessed. RESULTS Following adjustment for substance misuse, psychoactive medication use, and in males tobacco use, the highest levels of aggressive behaviour were found among maltreated male carriers of MAOA-S with high levels of exonic methylation. CONCLUSION Methylation levels within the MAOA ROI further contributed to the interaction of MAOA risk genotypes and maltreatment on aggressive behaviours among men.

中文翻译：

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单胺氧化酶A基因型和甲基化可减轻虐待和攻击性行为的关联。

背景技术单胺氧化酶A（MAOA）功能多态性（MAOA-uVNTR）基因型，女性中的MAOA-Long（MAOA-L）基因型，男性中的MAOA-Short（MAOA-S）基因型修饰了儿童期虐待与后续攻击行为之间的关联。儿童期虐待与几种基因的差异DNA甲基化有关。与最近的提议一致，我们假设通过跨越MAOA第一个外显子和部分第一个内含子的感兴趣区域（ROI）的甲基化，进一步缓解了MAOA基因型与虐待与攻击行为之间的相互作用。方法样本包括117名女性和77名男性，他们完成了访谈和问卷调查，以报告对他人的虐待和攻击行为，并提供了唾液样本用于DNA提取。对MAOA-uVNTR多态性进行了基因分型，并评估了MAOA ROI的甲基化。结果在对药物滥用，精神药物的使用以及男性烟草的使用进行了调整之后，在受过虐待的雄性MAOA-S男性携带者中，其外显子甲基化水平很高，其攻击行为水平最高。结论MAOA ROI内的甲基化水平进一步促进了MAOA风险基因型的相互作用和对男性攻击行为的虐待。