Nature, Nurture and Mood Disorders at the MRC SGDP Centre

§Life events ( LE) are familial (McGuffin et al 1988) §For severe events this is because they are often shared ( Farmer et al 2000) §G self reported LE and G depression correlated ( Plomin, Eley) §G and LE interact ( Farmer, Caspi)

Same Genes Different Disorders? §The G of mania and depression correlated ( not just a continuum of severity) (McGuffin et al 2003) §The G of schizophrenia, schizo-affective and bipolar disorder correlated (Cardno et al 2002) §This confirmed by molecular genetics

Molecules and mood §5HTTLPR and LE interact ( Caspi et al 2003) §We can track genes in families ( if we have enough families) ( eg Breen et al 2011) §We can tag genes in unrelateds– GWAS (if we have huge samples) ( eg Lewis et al 2010) §Some completely unforeseen quirks of the genome have emerged such as CNVs (eg Rucker et al 2011) §Its complex!