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Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on February 22, 2006
Journal of Heredity 2006 97(3):279-284; doi:10.1093/jhered/esj024
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© The American Genetic Association. 2006. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Brief Communications

Identification and Characterization of a Tandem Repeat in Exon III of the Dopamine Receptor D4 (DRD4) Gene in Cetaceans

Line Mogensen, Carl Christian Kinze, Thomas Werge, and Henrik Berg Rasmussen

From the Research Institute of Biological Psychiatry, H:S Sct. Hans Hospital, Copenhagen University, 2 Boserupvej, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark; and CC Konsult, 35 Falkoner Allé, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark

Address correspondence to H. B. Rasmussen at the address above, or e-mail: henrik.berg.rasmussen{at}shh.hosp.dk.

A large number of mammalian species harbor a tandem repeat in exon III of the gene encoding dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4), a receptor associated with cognitive functions. In this study, a DRD4 gene exon III tandem repeat from the order Cetacea was identified and characterized. Included in our study were samples from 10 white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris), 10 harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), eight sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), and five minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). Using enzymatic amplification followed by sequencing of amplified fragments, a tandem repeat composed of 18-bp basic units was detected in all of these species. The tandem repeats in white-beaked dolphin and harbor porpoise were both monomorphic and consisted of 11 and 12 basic units, respectively. In contrast, the sperm whale harbored a polymorphic tandem repeat with size variants composed of three, four, and five basic units. Also the tandem repeat in minke whale was polymorphic; size variants composed of 6 or 11 basic units were found in this species. The consensus sequences of the basic units were identical in the closely related white-beaked dolphin and harbor porpoise, and these sequences differed by a maximum of two changes when compared to the remaining species. There was a high degree of similarity between the cetacean basic unit consensus sequences and those from members of the horse family and domestic cow, which also harbor a tandem repeat composed of 18-bp basic units in exon III of their DRD4 gene. Consequently, the 18-bp tandem repeat appears to have originated prior to the differentiation of hoofed mammals into odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. The composition of the tandem repeat in cetaceans differed markedly from that in primates, which is composed of 48-bp repeat basic units.


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