A recent report (Barr et al. 2009) provides evidence that findings from the rodent literature are also applicable to non-human primates. The authors describe a functional CRH promoter polymorphism in rhesus macaques that is associated with greater stress responsivity and report interactions between genotype and rearing condition with significantly greater ACTH and cortisol responses to social stress observed in peer-reared carriers of this polymorphism. Most importantly, they report a genotype-environment interaction in which significantly greater alcohol consumption was found only for carriers of this polymorphism who had experienced early life stress (peer-rearing). This interaction, involving a CRH promoter polymorphism and a severe early life stressor associated with greater alcohol consumption in the absence of a significant main effect, is strikingly similar to the findings of the current report.
