126 Section MOLECULAR ANTHROPOLOGY – NEW ADVANCES GENOMIC VARIATION OF CATECHOL-O-METHYL TRANSFERASE (COMT), DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR (DRD4), DOPAMINE D2 RECEPTOR (DRD2) AND MONOAMINE OXIDASE A (MAOA) GENES IN HADZA AND DATOGA MALES Vasilyev Vasiliy1 Karelin Dmitriy3 , Sukhodolskaya Evgenija1 , Mabulla Audax4 , Shibalev Dmitri1 , Lazebny Oleg5 , Burkova Valentina2 , Butovskaya Marina2 1Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia 2Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia 3Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia 4Department of Archaeology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Tanzania 5 The study of genetic basis of aggressive behavior is one of the leading directions of modern behavior genetics. <...> Here we examine the variability of four candidate genes, associated with aggressive behavior – COMT, DRD4, DRD2 and MAOA, in two traditional African groups (the Hadza, egalitarian hunter-gatherers and the Datoga, pastoralists and warriors) different by the level of culturally permitted in-group and out-group aggression. <...> The functionally important polymorphisms, VNTRs in promoter region of the MAOA gene, VNTRs in promoter region (DRD4Pr locus) and in the third exon (DRD4E3 locus) of the DRD4 gene, SNP in the COMT (rs4680) and DRD2 (rs1800497) genes, supposedly associated with violent aggressive behavior were detected. <...> The DNA of the Hadza (n=199) and the Datoga (n=230) were tested, using locus specifi c PCR. <...> It was demonstrated that these two groups differed signifi cantly by the frequency of distribution of genotypes COMT M/M and COMT V/V: in Hadza (COMT M/M – 0.231 and COMT V/V – 0.287) and in Datoga (COMT M/M – 0.107 and COMT V/V – 0.433). <...> Other loci studied haven’t showed any signifi cant differences between these two populations. <...> We suggest that the differences in distribution of COMT and DRD4E3 genotypes in Hadza and Datoga are due to the different adaptations for in-group and out-group social competition. <...> Key words: COMT, DRD4, MAOA, DRD2, allelic polymorphism, African populations Hadza and Datoga, aggressive <...>