Background: Observations of comorbid depression in subjects with primary dystonia have suggested a dual role for the TOR1A gene in mood disorders and movement disorders. We conducted a systematic search for carriers of the ∆GAG deletion and for other variants in TOR1A exon 5 among 414 Caucasian subjects with recurrent major depression from the Upper Palatinate. Findings: Allele frequencies were determined for 27 TOR1A diallelic markers, including two novel synonymous substitutions (L262L and E310E) in the region encoding the torsinA C-terminus, plus four novel variants in the gene’s 3’UTR. No carriers of the ∆GAG deletion were observed. When data were compared to previously examined control populations, no significant allelic associations were noted after corrections for multiple testing. Conclusions: The present study adds to the spectrum of TOR1A mutations but provides no evidence of a common genetic predisposition to DYT1 dystonia and recurrent major depression.