The effect of the 7R allele at the DRD4 locus on risk tolerance is independent of background risk in Senegalese fishermen.
Sci Rep 2023;
13:622. [PMID:
36635358 PMCID:
PMC9837182 DOI:
10.1038/s41598-022-27002-3]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
It has been shown that living in risky environments, as well as having a risky occupation, can moderate risk-tolerance. Despite the involvement of dopamine in the expectation of reward described by neurobiologists, a GWAS study was not able to demonstrate a genetic contribution of genes involved in the dopaminergic pathway in risk attitudes and gene candidate studies gave contrasting results. We test the possibility that a genetic effect of the DRD4-7R allele in risk-taking behavior could be modulated by environmental factors. We show that the increase in risk-tolerance due to the 7R allele is independent of the environmental risk in two populations in Northern Senegal, one of which is exposed to a very high risk due to dangerous fishing.
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