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Genetics of alcohol dependence

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Abstract

Alcohol dependence (AD), a genetically influenced phenotype, is extremely costly to individuals and to society in the United States and throughout the world, contributing to morbidity and mortality and a host of economic, interpersonal, and societal problems. Although until recently the only genes established to affect risk for AD were those encoding several alcohol metabolizing enzymes, there are now several other genes that can be regarded as confirmed risk loci, discovered through linkage and candidate gene association studies. While the mechanism of action of the effects of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes on AD risk is thought to be well understood, we are still in the early stages of understanding the physiology of other risk loci. Further, it is clear that only a small number of the many genes that influence risk for AD have been identified. Newer methodologies (e.g., genomewide association, study of copy number variation, and deep sequencing of candidate loci to identify rare risk variants) that have improved our understanding of other complex traits hold the promise of identifying a greater set of AD susceptibility loci.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NIH grants R01 AA11330, K24 DA15105, K24 AA13736, and P50 AA12870; and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA Connecticut–Massachusetts Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center [MIRECC], and the VA Connecticut Alcohol Research Center).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, VAMC 116A2, Yale University School of Medicine, 950 Campbell Avenue, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA

    Joel Gelernter

  2. Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Joel Gelernter

  3. Department of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Joel Gelernter

  4. VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA

    Joel Gelernter

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA

    Henry R. Kranzler

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Correspondence to Joel Gelernter.

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Gelernter, J., Kranzler, H.R. Genetics of alcohol dependence. Hum Genet 126, 91–99 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-009-0701-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-009-0701-2

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