Abnormal features of human self-domestication in bipolar disorder.

In this paper we adopted an evolutionary-genomic approach to this condition, focusing on changes occurring during human evolution as a source of our distinctive cognitive and behavioural phenotype RESULTS: We show clinical evidence that the BD phenotype can be construed as an abnormal presentation of the human self-domestication phenotype. We further demonstrate that candidate genes for BD significantly overlap with candidates for mammal domestication, and that this common set of genes is enriched in functions that are important for the BD phenotype, especially neurotransmitter homeostasis. Finally, we show that candidates for domestication are differentially expressed in brain regions involved in BD pathology, particularly, the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which have been subject to recent changes in our species CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this link between domestication and BD should facilitate a better understanding of the BD etiopathology.