Among animals at risk for excessive ethanol consumption such as the HDID selected lines, there is considerable individual variation in the amount of ethanol consumed and the associated blood ethanol concentrations (BECs). For the HDID lines, this variation occurs even though the residual genetic variation associated with the DID phenotype has been largely exhausted and thus is most likely associated with epigenetic factors. Here we focus on the question of whether the genes associated with individual variation in HDID-1 mice are different from those associated with selection (risk) (Iancu et al. 2013). Thirty-three HDID-1 mice were phenotyped for their BECs at the end of a standard DID trial, were sacrificed 3 weeks later and RNA-Seq was used to analyze the striatal transcriptome. The data obtained illustrated that there is considerable overlap of the risk and variation gene sets; both focus on the fine tuning of NMDA mediated synaptic plasticity. SOURCE: Ovidiu,Dan,Iancu (iancuo@ohsu.edu) -  Oregon Health and Science University

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE97032: Alignment of the Transcriptome with Individual Variation in Animals Selectively Bred for High Drinking-In-the-Dark (HDID).