title: Applying the new genomics to alcohol dependence.
abstract: This review summarizes the proceedings of a symposium presented at the "Alcoholism and Stress: A Framework for Future Treatment Strategies" conference held in Volterra, Italy on May 6-9, 2014. The overall goal of the symposium titled "Applying the New Genomics to Alcohol Dependence", chaired by Dr. Adron Harris, was to highlight recent genomic discoveries and applications for profiling alcohol use disorder (AUD). Dr. Sean Farris discussed the gene expression networks related to lifetime consumption of alcohol within human prefrontal cortex. Dr. Andrzej Pietrzykowski presented the effects of alcohol on microRNAs in humans and animal models. Alcohol-induced alterations in the synaptic transcriptome were discussed by Dr. Michael Miles. Dr. Pietro Sanna examined methods to probe the gene regulatory networks that drive excessive alcohol drinking, and Dr. Samir Zakhari served as a panel discussant and summarized the proceedings. Collectively, the presentations emphasized the power of integrating multiple levels of genetics and transcriptomics with convergent biological processes and phenotypic behaviors to determine causal factors of AUD. The combined use of diverse data types demonstrates how unique approaches and applications can help categorize genetic complexities into relevant biological networks using a systems-level model of disease.
authors.affiliation: Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Sean P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Farris
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA; Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Andrzej Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Pietrzykowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Megan A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Department, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Pietro P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Sanna
authors.affiliation: Office of Science, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zakhari
authors.affiliation: Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: R Dayne
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Mayfield
authors.affiliation: Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA. Electronic address: harris@austin.utexas.edu.
authors.forename: R Adron
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Epigenetics; Gene expression networks; RNA-Seq; Synaptic transcriptome; Systems biology; microRNAs