Genome-wide association and genetic functional studies identify autism susceptibility candidate 2 gene (AUTS2) in the regulation of alcohol consumption
Alcohol consumption is a moderately heritable trait, but the genetic basis in humans is largely unknown, despite its clinical and societal importance. We report a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of ∼2.5 million directly genotyped or imputed SNPs with alcohol consumption (gram per day per kilogram body weight) among 12 population-based samples of European ancestry, comprising 26,316 individuals, with replication genotyping in an additional 21,185 individuals. SNP rs6943555 in autism susceptibility candidate 2 gene ( AUTS2 ) was associated with alcohol consumption at genome-wide significance ( P = 4 × 10 −8 to P = 4 × 10 −9 ). We found a genotype-specific expression of AUTS2 in 9…
Genome-wide Association Study of Alcohol Dependence
Context Alcohol dependence is a serious and common public health problem. It is well established that genetic factors play a major role in the development of this disorder. Identification of genes that contribute to alcohol dependence will improve our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie this disorder. Objective To identify susceptibility genes for alcohol dependence through a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a follow-up study in a population of German male inpatients with an early age at onset. Design The GWAS tested 524 396 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). All SNPs with P −4 were subjected to the follow-up study. In addition, nominally significant SNPs from genes t…