reveal an abundance of rare genetic variation, much of which is functional (Keinan & Clark 2012; Kiezun et al. 2012; Tennessen et al. 2012). In addition, our GWAS data sets have implicated a number of biologically relevant pathways and mechanisms in both study populations, including various transcription factors known to affect brain development, as well as genes involved in inhibitory neurotransmission. The latter plays a key role in the brain’s reward system and has been previously linked to externalizing psychopathologies (e.g., antisocial personality disorder, childhood conduct disorder) that share a genetic predisposition with substance abuse disorders (Dick et al. 2006), thus providing compelling targets for future research on alcoholism, as well as population-specific pathways.
