Developing a translational polygenic score of biological sensitivity to context

This study builds the first translational model of biological sensitivity to context. In order to determine gene expression patterns that underlie environmental responsivity, we conduct RNA sequencing of ventral dentate gyrus in C57BL6/J mice exposed to two distinctly divergent contexts: environmental enrichment or chronic social defeat stress. Differential expression analysis revealed 18 genes that were commonly regulated in response to these contexts compared to control and were thus considered environmentally responsive irrespective of the valance of the environment. Using the human orthologs, we build a polygenic score of environmental responsivity (ER-ePRS). We then tested whether this ER-ePRS moderated the relationship between the quality of the prevailing environment and anxiety-like or depression problems in four culturally distinctive human cohorts. Results reveal that the molecular underpinnings responsible for environmental responsivity in mice predict a greater propensity to develop psychopathological symptoms in humans in a context and sex dependent manner. Overall design: RNA sequencing of the ventral dentate gyrus of mice exposed to social defeat and environmental enrichment