Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 11, 2026

An Inexpensive, Scalable Behavioral Assay for Measuring Ethanol Sedation Sensitivity and Rapid Tolerance in Drosophila
Published on: April 15, 2015
Genetics of alcohol and tobacco use in humans
1Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Department of Pharmacology, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8. r.tyndale@utoronto.ca
Abstract:
The field of genetics holds great promise for furthering our understanding of the etiology of drug dependence and for identifying novel targets for treatment. Genetic studies utilizing twins and families have demonstrated a considerable role for genetics in nicotine and/or alcohol dependence. Risk for alcoholism or nicotine dependence is likely to be the result of a large number of genes, each contributing a small fraction of the overall risk. While this review will focus on studies in humans, many of the candidate genes for human nicotine and alcohol dependence listed here were originally postulated to be important, based on data from animal studies. The review will briefly summarize the results from twin and adoption studies that provide estimations of heritability, the results from chromosomal linkage studies that identify regions of chromosomes that may contain relevant genes, and the results of candidate gene studies. For each topic the data will be presented for nicotine dependence, alcohol dependence, and for nicotine and alcohol dependence together. In addition, each section will review briefly some of the confounding issues in the specific type of approach utilized.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Incomplete Dominance
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Pharmacogenetic Phenotypes: Alterations in Pharmacokinetics, Drug Targets and Biologic Milieu
Pharmacogenetics of Drug Targets: β₂-Adrenergic Receptors, Apo E, Thymidylate Synthase
Human Genetics
The complex relationship between genetics and psychology is observable through common biological components such...
Behavioral Genetics and Its Designs
The primary methodologies used in behavior genetics include family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies, each providing unique...

