Description

Mental disorders are complex diseases with strong
genetic components. Clinical studies have
demonstrated the associations of genetic variants in
candidate genes with susceptibility to several
common mental diseases such as schizophrenia,
depression, bipolar disorders, and drug addiction,
but little was known about the underlying
mechanisms. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs),
naturally occurring nucleotide substitutions in DNA
sequence, are the most common genetic variants,
which can modulate gene expression at the level of
mRNA and protein by affecting transcription, mRNA
processing, pre-mature RNA splicing, mRNA stability,
or translation. My studies examined the extent and
nature of SNPs in mu opioid receptor and D2 dopamine
receptor genes, which provided a foundation for
clinical association studies by clarifying the
functional relevance of these SNPs with
susceptibility to mental disorders. My work should
be especially useful to professionals in
neuroscience, psychiatry, and genetics or anybody
who are interested in understanding the genetic
mechanisms of mental disorders.