Defining alcohol-related phenotypes in humans. The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism.
Alcoholism is a disease that runs in families and results at least in part from genetic risk factors. The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) is a Federally funded effort to identify and characterize those genetic factors. The study involves more than 1,000 alcoholic subjects and their families, with researchers conducting comprehensive psychological, physiological, electrophysiological, and genetic analyses of the participants. These analyses have identified several traits, or phenotypes, that appear to be genetically determined, such as the presence of alcohol dependence, the level of response to alcohol, the presence of coexisting depression, or the maximum number of drinks a person consumes per occasion. Genetic analyses have identified regions on several chromosomes that are associated with these phenotypes and need to be studied further.
Bierut
Laura Jean
LJ
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Saccone
Nancy L
NL
Rice
John P
JP
Goate
Alison
A
Foroud
Tatiana
T
Edenberg
Howard
H
Almasy
Laura
L
Conneally
P Michael
PM
Crowe
Raymond
R
Hesselbrock
Victor
V
Li
T K
TK
Nurnberger
John
J
Porjesz
Bernice
B
Schuckit
Marc A
MA
Tischfield
Jay
J
Begleiter
Henri
H
Reich
Theodore
T
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004569:Electroencephalography; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods; D010641:Phenotype