New alcohol-related genes suggest shared genetic mechanisms with neuropsychiatric disorders

Alcohol Genome-Wide Consortium, Juha Auvinen, Chunyu Liu, Minna Männikkö, Lorenz Risch, Jerome I. Rotter, Harold Snieder, Juha Veijola, Alexandra I. Blakemore, Michael Boehnke, Harry Campbell, David Conen, Johan G. Eriksson, Hans J. Grabe, Xiuqing Guo, Pim van der Harst, Catharina A. Hartman, Caroline Hayward, Andrew C. Heath, Marjo-Riitta JarvelinMika Kähönen, Sharon L. R. Kardia, Michael Kühne, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso, Jari Lahti, Terho Lehtimäki, Andrew M. McIntosh, Karen L. Mohlke, Alanna C. Morrison, Nicholas G. Martin, Albertine J. Oldehinkel, Bruce M. Psaty, Olli T. Raitakari, Igor Rudan, Nilesh J. Samani, Laura J. Scott, Tim D. Spector, Niek Verweij, David R. Weir, James F. Wilson, Daniel Levy, Ioanna Tzoulaki, Jimmy D. Bell, Paul M. Matthews, Adrian Rothenfluh, Sylvane Desrivières, Gunter Schumann, Paul Elliott

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52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Excessive alcohol consumption is one of the main causes of death and disability worldwide. Alcohol consumption is a heritable complex trait. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of alcohol consumption (g d−1) from the UK Biobank, the Alcohol Genome-Wide Consortium and the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Plus consortia, collecting data from 480,842 people of European descent to decipher the genetic architecture of alcohol intake. We identified 46 new common loci and investigated their potential functional importance using magnetic resonance imaging data and gene expression studies. We identify genetic pathways associated with alcohol consumption and suggest genetic mechanisms that are shared with neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)950-961
Number of pages12
JournalNature Human Behaviour
Volume3
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2019

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