PSY 240 Genes and Addiction Assignment In the study ‘Associations and Interactions between SNPs in the Alcohol Metabolizing Genes and Alcoholism Phenotypes in European Americans’, Sherva, Rice, Neuman, Rochberg, Saccone, and Bierut search for a correlation (a statistical measurement of the relationship between two or more variables) between two alcohol-related phenotypes and SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphism) in 17 genes involved with alcohol metabolism. Alcohol metabolism is a process through oxidation where alcohol is detoxified and removed from the blood, preventing the alcohol from accumulating and destroying cells and organs. A minute amount of alcohol escapes metabolism and is excreted unchanged in the breath and in urine. Until all the alcohol consumed has been metabolized, it is distributed throughout the body, affecting the brain and other tissues (Byrne, 2014). The two alcohol-related phenotypes were compared to SNPs, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms, where a nucleotide is different from the rest of the chromosome (Byrne, 2014).
There have been several studies done previously showcasing chromosomal regions and genes that affect alcohol dependence (alcoholism), most of which play a role in the metabolism of alcohol. Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking (Byrne, 2014). For this experiment, the authors used 1,588 European American subjects between the ages of 25-44 and multiple regression models to test for associations and interactions between the phenotypes and SNPs. The subjects were selected from a community-based sample participating in the Collaborative Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence (COGEND) and were tested based on the number of drinks consumed and DSM-IV symptom count. DSM-IV is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition; essentially a manual that covers all health disorders for all ages (Sherva, 2009). In the end they found that the association between a specific SNP (rs1229984) and the number of drinks in a day indicating alcohol dependence (according to DSM-IV) had a p-value of .0003. A p-value in statistics is the probability of obtaining a value as close to the observed one (Sherva, 2009). This association, also known as gene association, is the occurrence, more often than can be readily explained by chance, of two or more traits in a population of individuals, of which at least one trait is known to be genetic (Byrne, 2014). For this phenotype, alleles were associated with less severe drinking behavior. They concluded that although this SNP, after repeated test runs, showed to be less and less of a determining factor with alcohol dependence, it still plays a major role with public health and can lead to more accurate future genetic testing.
Keywords *Note all keywords can be found in above summary; below list only exists to name all six for ease of access*: * Alcoholism: a chronic and often progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking. * Alcohol Metabolism: Through oxidation, alcohol is detoxified and removed from the blood, preventing the alcohol from accumulating and destroying cells and organs. A minute amount of alcohol escapes metabolism and is excreted unchanged in the breath and in urine. Until all the alcohol consumed has been metabolized, it is distributed throughout the body, affecting the brain and other tissues. * Gene Association: the occurrence, more often than can be readily explained by chance, of two or more traits in a population of individuals, of which at least one trait is known to be genetic. * SNP: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Where a nucleotide is different from the rest of the chromosome. * DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition. Basically a manual that covers all health disorders for all ages. * P: P-value in statistics. Basically the probability of obtaining a value as close to the observed one.

References:
Sherva, R., Rice, J., Neuman, R., Rochberg, N., Saccone, N. & Bierut, L. (2009). Associations and Interactions between SNPs in the Alcohol Metabolizing Genes and Alcoholism Phenotypes in European Americans. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 33 (5). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1530-0277.
Byrne, J. (2014) Neuroscience Online. Retrieved from http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/.
The above reference was formatted according to APA Electronic Sourcing rules for an online periodical found at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/.
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