Higher scores in the extraversion personality trait are associated with a functional polymorphism in the PER3 gene in healthy subjects

ABSTRACT

A polymorphism in the PER3 (period circadian clock 3) gene has been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and endophenotypes. We evaluated the possible association of personality domains with the PER3 polymorphism in a sample of healthy subjects: 271 individuals were evaluated with the Big Five Inventory and genotyped for the PER3 Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) polymorphism. We found a significant association between the PER3 polymorphism and the extraversion personality trait (p = 0.0093). The 5/5 genotype carriers showed higher scores for extraversion. This is the first time that a significant association between the PER3 VNTR polymorphism and extraversion is reported.

KEYWORDS:

• PER3 gene
• extraversion
• circadian genes
• personality traits
• psychiatric genetics

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Rodrigo González-Reyes, Andres Camargo and Juliana Villada who helped with the recruitment and evaluation of subjects.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This study was supported by a research grant from Colciencias (grant # 823-2015).

Supplementary material for this article can be accessed online at www.tandfonline.com/icbi.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a research grant from Colciencias (grant # 823-2015).