Project Summary

Brien Riley, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of Virginia Commonwealth University, aims to identify gene variants in African families that have schizophrenia and to determine the association of the variants with the disorder. Dr. Riley proposes to study cases in 23 South African Bantu multiply-affected families (44 cases, N=129) and 113 Ethiopian Gurage cases plus parents and population controls (N=300). African samples have not been tested for association in the current set of candidate genes for the disease. Besides providing valuable information about schizophrenia risk factors in this under-studied group, the study could lead to shortcuts in understanding schizophrenia pathogenesis. First, the smaller average size of variants in African genomes means the associated physical regions of candidate genes will be smaller, leading to faster identification of risk alleles through reduction of sequencing. Second, all ancient human variation (predating migration out of Africa) is represented in African genomes, which, because of their greater variation, have the potential to identify multiple risk alleles, provided they are of ancient origin.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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