A group of scientists including Petr Menshanov (NSU and Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS), Elena Cherepkova (Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAMS), Vladimir Maksimov (Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS and Institute of Therapy and Prophylactic Medicine SB RAMS) and Lyubomir Aftanas (Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAMS), who collaborate in the frameworks of the Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics, have published results of their research on the genes responsible for violent crimes. The article appeared in Journal of Criminal Justice, a leading international journal in the criminal justice area.
This research is an example of multidisciplinary and applied approach, where disciplines such as forensic science, psychology and mental disorder studies, molecular neuroscience and medical genetics can influence one another and benefit from using methods of modern applied statistics.
Factors involved in committing a severe, violent crime can be analyzed from different angles. Neuroscientists, who study biological contributions to criminal or antisocial behavior, used to explain it by impulsive aggression developed in the criminal during the childhood due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, research data demonstrate that a lot of carefully planned, 鈥渃old-blooded鈥� violent murders were committed by adults with no history of ADHD. These criminals were not susceptible to impulsive cruelty having been brought up in well-to-do-families. Their aggression was 鈥渃old鈥�, carefully planned, and appeared to be linked with some forms of Dopamine receptor 4 (DRD4). The scientists concluded that the risk variants of the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism, the 7-repeat and 5-repeat (7R and 5R) alleles might be associated with the increased occurrence of violent behavior in adults with no history of ADHD. Thus, the results support the hypothesis that proactive aggression might be a genetically-based, separate feature of personality that is independent of ADHD.
The D4 subtype of the dopamine receptor is one of the five subtypes that are prominent in the vertebrate central nervous system. The human dopamine D4 receptor was first cloned in 1991. DRD4 encodes a putative 387-amino acid protein with 7 transmembrane domains. It is a target for drugs which treat schizophrenia and Parkinson disease. Mutations in this gene have been associated with various behavioral phenotypes, including autonomic nervous system dysfunction, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and the personality trait of novelty seeking. In humans, D4 receptors have been identified in 16 regions of the brain with relatively high levels of expression in the prefrontal and temporolimbic structures, as well as in retina, heart, kidney cells and lymphocytes.
The study entitled draws our attention to the idea that ADHD medications commonly used in western schools may not have a suppressive effect against aggressive or antisocial behavior in the society.
The Federal Research Center Institute of Cytology and Genetics, created in accordance with the RF President order, merges with the Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine, the Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Lymphology, the Scientific Research Institute of therapy.
