PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Laurence J. Howe
AU  - A. Mesut Erzurumluoglu
AU  - George Davey Smith
AU  - Santiago Rodriguez
AU  - Evie Stergiakouli
TI  - Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA haplogroups across behavioural traits in children from the general population
AID  - 10.1101/064444
DP  - 2016 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 064444
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/07/18/064444.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/07/18/064444.full
AB  - Objective To evaluate the association between Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and a number of sexually-dimorphic behavioural and psychiatric traits.Methods The study sample included 4,211 males and 4,009 females with mitochondrial DNA haplogroups and 4,788 males with Y chromosome haplogroups who are part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Different subsets of these populations were assessed using the Developmental and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), SCDC (Social and Communication Disorder Checklist) and Psychotic Like Symptom Interview (PLIKSi) as measures of behavioural and psychiatric traits. Logistic regression was used to measure the association between haplogroups and the traits above.Results We found that the majority of behavioural traits in our cohort differed between males and females. However, Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA major haplogroups were not associated with any of the variables. In addition, secondary analyses of Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA subgroups also showed no association.Conclusion Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA haplogroups are not associated with behavioural and psychiatric traits in a sample representative of the UK population.