Androgen Receptor Gene Polymorphism, Aggression, and Reproduction in Tanzanian Foragers and Pastoralists

Marina L Butovskaya; Oleg E Lazebny; Vasiliy A Vasilyev; Daria A Dronova; Dmitri V Karelin; Audax Z P Mabulla; Dmitri V Shibalev; Todd K Shackelford; Bernhard Fink; Alexey P Ryskov

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136208

Androgen Receptor Gene Polymorphism, Aggression, and Reproduction in Tanzanian Foragers and Pastoralists

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 20;10(8):e0136208. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136208. eCollection 2015.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
² Department of Evolutionary and Developmental Genetics, Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
³ Department of Genome Organization, Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
⁴ Biological Faculty, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
⁵ Department of Archaeology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, United States of America.
⁷ Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.

Abstract

The androgen receptor (AR) gene polymorphism in humans is linked to aggression and may also be linked to reproduction. Here we report associations between AR gene polymorphism and aggression and reproduction in two small-scale societies in northern Tanzania (Africa)--the Hadza (monogamous foragers) and the Datoga (polygynous pastoralists). We secured self-reports of aggression and assessed genetic polymorphism of the number of CAG repeats for the AR gene for 210 Hadza men and 229 Datoga men (aged 17-70 years). We conducted structural equation modeling to identify links between AR gene polymorphism, aggression, and number of children born, and included age and ethnicity as covariates. Fewer AR CAG repeats predicted greater aggression, and Datoga men reported more aggression than did Hadza men. In addition, aggression mediated the identified negative relationship between CAG repeats and number of children born.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aggression*
Child
Family
Humans
Male
Marriage
Middle Aged
Polymorphism, Genetic*
Receptors, Androgen / genetics*
Reproduction*
Tanzania / ethnology
Trinucleotide Repeats
Young Adult

Substances

Receptors, Androgen

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities—12-01-00032—MLB, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research—13-06-00393—MLB, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research—12-04-31869—APR, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research—13-04-00858—APR, the Research Program of Russian Academy of Sciences 'Molecular and Cell Biology'—APR, the President RF Program—5233.2012.4—APR, and the President RF Program—2501.2014.4—APR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.