iPSC technologies provide novel model systems to examine the molecular and cellular effects of disease-associated genetic variation using disease-relevant cell types not otherwise readily available. In the current study, we generated neural cultures from 36 iPSC lines derived from 21 donor subjects characterized by rs279858, a synonymous T-to-C polymorphism in exon 5 of GABRA2. Previous research has shown associations between the rs279858*C allele and increased risk for AD (Ittiwut et al., 2012, Enoch et al., 2009, Lappalainen et al., 2005, Bauer et al., 2007, Fehr et al., 2006, Soyka et al., 2008, Li et al., 2014), marijuana and illicit drug dependence (Agrawal et al., 2006), anxiety (Enoch et al., 2006), and differences in the risk of relapse or likelihood of drinking following treatment for substance abuse (Bauer et al., 2012, Bauer et al., 2007). Despite these multiple behavioral associations of GABRA2 variation in humans, the cellular and molecular components underlying the associations are not understood.
