DNA methyltransferase 3A gene polymorphism contributes to daily life stress susceptibility

Daily life stress markedly affects the response toward stressful stimuli. DNA methy-lation is one of the factors that regulate this response, and is a normal mechanism of somatic cell growth, but its regulatory gene variations may cause alterations in the stress response. The aim of the present study was to investigate genotypic variants of the DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) gene in 129 healthy subjects and evaluate its association with daily life stress. Blood samples were collected, and genomic DNA was isolated. DNA was amplified using specific tetra primers for DNMT3A (C/T) rs11683424 and visualized following 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. The association of DNMT3A genetic variants with daily life stress was analyzed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). We observed that the distribution of subjects with genotype CC (wild type), CT (heteromutant), and TT (homomutant) was 13.95%, 81.4%, and 4.65%, respectively. Genetic variations significantly affected the daily life stress condition (p=0.04) in Indonesian healthy subjects, but most of the subjects with the CT phenotype were classified in a stress condition.