Metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (GRM3) gene variation is not associated with schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder in the German population

Abstract

In the present study, we sought to identify genetic variation in the metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (GRM3) gene, which has been mapped to chromosome 7q21.1–q21.2 [Scherer et al., 1996 ] and might contribute to genetic predisposition to schizophrenia and/or bipolar affective disorder. Using single‐strand conformation analysis (SSCA), we screened the complete coding sequence as well as adjacent splice sites of the GRM3 gene in a sample of 46 bipolar affective and 46 schizophrenic patients. We detected three sequence variants: a rare C/T substitution at nucleotide position +885 (T209T), a C/T substitution at nucleotide position +2130 (Y624Y), and a more common C/T substitution at nucleotide position +1131 (A291A). The occurrence of the +1131C/T variant was investigated in a sample of bipolar affective patients (n = 283), schizophrenic patients (n = 265), and ethnically matched controls (n = 227). We observed a significant overrepresentation of the +1131T allele in schizophrenic patients when compared to controls (P = 0.0022). This finding was followed up in an independent sample of schizophrenic patients (n = 288) and controls (n = 162) and 128 schizophrenic trios but could not be confirmed. It is therefore unlikely that this variant plays a major role in predisposing to schizophrenia and/or bipolar affective disorder at least in the German population.