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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Dozens of genes are linked to post-traumatic stress disorder

Findings underscore that genetic factors contribute to development of the condition after a traumatic incident.
Hippocampus brain tissue. Light micrograph of a sagittal (side view) section through the hippocampus of a rat's brain showing the nerve cells within it.

Among the genes that cause post-traumatic stress disorder are some that affect brain neurons (pictured, artificially coloured). Credit: Thomas Deerinck, NCMIR/SPL

Only a small fraction of people who survive a traumatic event develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A study of genetic data from more than one million people, the largest data set used so far to investigate the underpinnings of PTSD, reveals 80 new sites in the genome linked to the disorder and 43 genes that might help to explain its cause1.

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Nature 629, 11 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01147-9

References

  1. Nievergelt, C. M. et al. Nature Genet. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01707-9 (2024).

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