Convergent linkage evidence from two Latin-American population isolates supports the presence of a susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder in 5q31-34.

We performed a whole genome microsatellite marker scan in six multiplex families with bipolar (BP) mood disorder ascertained in Antioquia, a historically isolated population from North West Colombia. These families were characterized clinically using the approach employed in independent ongoing studies of BP in the closely related population of the Central Valley of Costa Rica. The most consistent linkage results from parametric and non-parametric analyses of the Colombian scan involved markers on 5q31-33, a region implicated by the previous studies of BP in Costa Rica.