Vulnerability genes or plasticity genes?

By J. Belsky, Charles R. Jonassaint, M. Pluess, M. Stanton, B. Brummett, Redford B Williams. Molecular Psychiatry, 2009

1,028 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The classic diathesis–stress framework, which views some individuals as particularly vulnerable to adversity, informs virtually all psychiatric research on behavior–gene–environment (G × E) interaction. An alternative framework of ‘differential susceptibility’ is proposed, one which regards those most susceptible to adversity because of their genetic make up as simultaneously most likely to benefit from supportive or enriching experiences—or even just the absence of adversity. Recent G × E findings consistent with this perspective and involving monoamine oxidase-A, 5-HTTLPR (5-hydroxytryptamine-linked polymorphic region polymorphism) and dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) are reviewed for illustrative purposes. Results considered suggest that putative ‘vulnerability genes’ or ‘risk alleles’ might, at times, be more appropriately conceptualized as ‘plasticity genes’, because they seem to make individuals more susceptible to environmental influences—for better and for worse.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c7f3aa847af426a171783dc05664425f1b44c3cb

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Citations in the corpus

Current research trends in early life stress and depression: review of human studies on sensitive periods, gene-environment interactions, and epigenetics. (2012, positive): “such as abuse in childhood, can be beneficial in a positive environment (Belsky et al., 2009; Homberg and Lesch, 2010), suggesting that these G×E interactions reflect general sensitivity to environmentalmalleability.”
Borderline Personality Disorder (2016, positive): “responsivity to both positive and negative conditions—rather than focusing onesidedly on vulnerability, whereby plasticity genes can have additive effects, that is the susceptibility to the environment may increase with the number of plasticity alleles [80, 81].”
Individual Differences in Environmental Sensitivity (2015, background): “ated with genetic differences between individuals (22, 23, 28).”
Differential susceptibility to the environment: An evolutionary–neurodevelopmental theory (2011, background): “Belsky’s (1997a, 1997b; Belsky et al., 2009) original DST was based on the presumption that differences in susceptibility were more or less genotypic in origin.”
Rethinking the biopsychosocial model of health: Understanding health as a dynamic system (2017, positive): “Recent advances in gene – environment interactions (Belsky et al., 2009; Duncan, Pollastri, & Smoller, 2014), social genomics and epigenetics (Cole, 2013; 2014), and psy-choneuroimmunology (Dinan & Cryan, 2016; Kiecolt ‐ Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002) have helped to propel scientific…”
Sex Differences in Attachment Emerge in Middle Childhood: An Evolutionary Hypothesis (2010, background): “…that children differ in their susceptibility to environmental factors (Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Belsky & Pluess, 2009; Belsky et al., 2009; Pluess & Belsky, 2010) likely explains the modest relation between sensitivity and attachment security (Belsky, 2009; De Wolff &…”
Beyond diathesis stress: differential susceptibility to environmental influences. (2009, background): “Indeed, two secondary analyses of such studies have shown that the beneficial effects of a benign environment on children presumed to be vulnerable for genetic reasons are actually larger than the originally—and exclusively—anticipated, detected and discussed negative effects of the contextual adver”
Serotonin and brain function: a tale of two receptors (2017, background): “…of neural and behavioural plasticity is well recognised (Belsky and Pluess, 2013; Boyce and Ellis, 2005), and in this context, the plasticity-mediating role of serotonin is becoming increasingly well appreciated (Alboni et al., 2017; Belsky et al., 2009; Branchi, 2011; Chiarotti et al., 2017).”
Individual Differences in Theory of Mind From Preschool to Adolescence: Achievements and Directions (2015, neutral): “In a related vein, analogous with studies on children’s differential susceptibility to environmental risk factors (41), researchers should consider whether genetic polymorphisms”
Cognitive Bias Modification and Cognitive Control Training in Addiction and Related Psychopathology (2013, background): “One possibility is that training effects are dependent on a number of genes that moderate plasticity and learning (Belsky et al., 2009).”