New Genes Found For Excessive Alcohol Drinking

[Guest guest]

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/genetics/a/blniaaa060418.htm?nl=1

Alcoholism / Substance Abuse

 

Related Topics

Attention Deficit DisorderBipolar DisorderDepressionMental Health

ResourcesPanic / Anxiety Disorders

New Genes Found For Excessive Alcohol Drinking

From Buddy T,

 

 

Your Guide to Alcoholism / Substance Abuse.

FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Apr 23 2006

New Targets for Further Research

Researchers have identified new genes that may contribute to excessive

alcohol consumption, which provide clues to the underlying molecular

mechanisms and allow scientists to focus on targets not previously

implicated in excessive drinking.

The new study was conducted with strains of animals that have either a high

or low innate preference for alcohol.

" These findings provide a wealth of new insights into the molecular

determinants of excessive drinking, which could lead to a better

understanding of alcoholism, " notes NIAAA Director Ting-Kai Li, M.D. " They

also underscore the value that animal models bring to the investigation of

complex human disorders such as alcohol dependence. "

In the current study, Susan E. Bergeson, Ph.D., of the University of Texas

(UT) at Austin, and a multi-site team of scientists participating in NIAAA's

Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism (INIA) used microarray

techniques to study gene expression in the brains of selectively bred to

have either a high or low preference for alcohol.

" Microarrays allow us to look at the full complement of genes that are

active in the brains of animals bred to exhibit very different alcohol

drinking behaviors, " said Dr. Bergeson, an Assistant Professor of

Neurobiology in UT's Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.

When a gene is activated, cellular machinery transcribes certain parts of

the gene's DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA), which is the body's template for

creating proteins. The complete set of transcribed mRNA in a tissue is

termed the " transcriptome. "

The researchers examined brain transcriptomes of nine strains of mice, each

with different levels of voluntary alcohol consumption.

High and Low Alcohol Consumption

" By measuring total gene expression in brains of each of the mouse models we

could explore which transcripts are consistently changed in different

genetic models of high and low alcohol intake and thereby define the

transcriptional signatures of genetic predisposition to high and low alcohol

consumption, " said Dr. Bergeson.

According to a news release, " the researchers employed novel statistical

techniques to identify nearly 4,000 differentially expressed genes between

the high and low alcohol drinking mouse strains and to narrow the focus to

75 primary candidate genes. In addition, a comparison of the mouse data with

human genetic studies revealed that genes with significant expression

differences reside in chromosomal regions that previously were shown to be

associated with human alcoholism. "

Narrowing Research Targets

" Numerous pathways, as well as genes whose functions are currently unknown,

may contribute to the genetic predisposition to drink high amounts of

alcohol, " said Dr. Bergeson. " Our results will allow us to begin to focus on

targets never previously implicated in excessive drinking. For example,

genetic studies have shown that chromosome 9 contains genes that may

regulate alcohol consumption in mice. Our analyses allowed us to narrow our

focus from thousands of genes in that region to 20. "

" This first microarray-based analysis of a behavioral trait reveals many new

research opportunities and exemplifies the rich collaborative potential of

NIAAA's INIA consortium, " said Dr. Li.

Source: The study was published in the April 18, 2006 issue of Proceedings

of the National Academy of Sciences. See also: NIAAA News Release.

Important disclaimer information about this About site.

Genetic Factors

Gene Linked to Drinkers' Response to Alcohol Brain Protein Linked to

Alcoholism and Anxiety Genetics of Alcoholism