Summary
This paper investigates the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene's regulatory mechanisms, identifying a novel polymorphism in a repetitive promoter element that causes allele-dependent differences in 5-HTT expression. For lighting and wellbeing practitioners, this highlights that individual differences in serotonergic function—relevant to light-driven mood and circadian regulation—may have a genetic basis.
Key Findings
- A tandemly repeated sequence in the 5-HTT gene promoter region represses activity in non-serotonergic neuronal cells and contains positive regulatory components.
- A novel polymorphism in the repetitive promoter element shows allele-dependent differential 5-HTT promoter activity, suggesting genetic variation influences serotonergic neurotransmission.
- The midbrain raphe serotonin system modulates circadian and neuroendocrine rhythms including sleep, food intake, and reproductive activity.
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Paper discusses circadian rhythm development and neuroendocrine modulation including sleep, with serotonin system involvement in circadian entrainment.
Mood & Mental Wellness: Serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene polymorphisms and promoter activity are linked to mood, emotion, and complex behavioral traits.
Author(s)
E Muñoz
Related Publications
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The two‐process model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
Mood & Mental Wellness
- The two‐process model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Protecting the melatonin rhythm through circadian healthy light exposure
- Effects of artificial dawn and morning blue light on daytime cognitive performance, well-being, cortisol and melatonin levels
- Light therapy and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia: past, present, and future
- The role of daylight for humans: gaps in current knowledge