title: Taok2 controls behavioral response to ethanol in mice.
abstract: Despite recent advances in the understanding of ethanol's biological action, many of the molecular targets of ethanol and mechanisms behind ethanol's effect on behavior remain poorly understood. In an effort to identify novel genes, the products of which regulate behavioral responses to ethanol, we recently identified a mutation in the dtao gene that confers resistance to the locomotor stimulating effect of ethanol in Drosophila. dtao encodes a member of the Ste20 family of serine/threonine kinases implicated in MAP kinase signaling pathways. In this study, we report that conditional ablation of the mouse dtao homolog, Taok2, constitutively and specifically in the nervous system, results in strain-specific and overlapping alterations in ethanol-dependent behaviors. These data suggest a functional conservation of dtao and Taok2 in mediating ethanol's biological action and identify Taok2 as a putative candidate gene for ethanol use disorders in humans.
authors.affiliation: The Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, University of California at San Francisco, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA. dkapfhamer@gallo.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kapfhamer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kharazia
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Heberlein
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000235:genetics; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D020234:Gait Ataxia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000235:genetics; D008124:Locomotion / Q000187:drug effects; D020930:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C582019:Taok2 protein, mouse; D020930:MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases