Research article

Genetical genomic determinants of alcohol consumption in rats and humans

Boris Tabakoff¹ , Laura Saba¹ , Morton Printz² , Pam Flodman³ , Colin Hodgkinson⁴ , David Goldman⁴ , George Koob⁵ , Heather N Richardson^5,16 , Katerina Kechris⁶ , Richard L Bell⁷ , Norbert Hübner⁸ , Matthias Heinig⁸ , Michal Pravenec⁹ , Jonathan Mangion^10,17 , Lucie Legault¹¹ , Maurice Dongier¹¹ , Katherine M Conigrave¹² , John B Whitfield¹³ , John Saunders¹⁴ , Bridget Grant¹⁵ , Paula L Hoffman¹ and WHO/ISBRA Study on State and Trait Markers of Alcoholism

¹Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado, Denver, Aurora, CO, USA

²Department of Pharmacology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

³Department of Pediatrics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

⁴Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, USA

⁵Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

⁶Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO, USA

⁷Institute of Psychiatric Research, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

⁸Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany

⁹Institute of Physiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

¹⁰MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, London, UK

¹¹Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

¹²Drug Health Services, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

¹³Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Queensland, Australia

¹⁴School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

¹⁵Division of Epidemiology, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD, USA

¹⁶Department Psychology-Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

¹⁷Applied Biosystems, Lingley House, 120 Birchwood Blvd., Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 7QH, UK

author email corresponding author email

BMC Biology 2009, 7:70doi:10.1186/1741-7007-7-70

Published:	27 October 2009

Abstract

Background

We have used a genetical genomic approach, in conjunction with phenotypic analysis of alcohol consumption, to identify candidate genes that predispose to varying levels of alcohol intake by HXB/BXH recombinant inbred rat strains. In addition, in two populations of humans, we assessed genetic polymorphisms associated with alcohol consumption using a custom genotyping array for 1,350 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Our goal was to ascertain whether our approach, which relies on statistical and informatics techniques, and non-human animal models of alcohol drinking behavior, could inform interpretation of genetic association studies with human populations.

Results

In the HXB/BXH recombinant inbred (RI) rats, correlation analysis of brain gene expression levels with alcohol consumption in a two-bottle choice paradigm, and filtering based on behavioral and gene expression quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses, generated a list of candidate genes. A literature-based, functional analysis of the interactions of the products of these candidate genes defined pathways linked to presynaptic GABA release, activation of dopamine neurons, and postsynaptic GABA receptor trafficking, in brain regions including the hypothalamus, ventral tegmentum and amygdala. The analysis also implicated energy metabolism and caloric intake control as potential influences on alcohol consumption by the recombinant inbred rats. In the human populations, polymorphisms in genes associated with GABA synthesis and GABA receptors, as well as genes related to dopaminergic transmission, were associated with alcohol consumption.

Conclusion

Our results emphasize the importance of the signaling pathways identified using the non-human animal models, rather than single gene products, in identifying factors responsible for complex traits such as alcohol consumption. The results suggest cross-species similarities in pathways that influence predisposition to consume alcohol by rats and humans. The importance of a well-defined phenotype is also illustrated. Our results also suggest that different genetic factors predispose alcohol dependence versus the phenotype of alcohol consumption.