To date, researchers have identified and studied the variants of three genes associated with the encoding of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, ADH1B, ADH1C, and ALDH2 (e.g., Edenberg, 2007; Eng, Luczak, & Wall, 2007). These genes help explicate large disparities in prevalence rates of AUDs among different ethnic groups, with East Asian populations exhibiting the greatest protection against alcohol dependence (Edenberg, 2007; Eng et al., 2007; Grant et al., 2004) and people of European American and Native American descent displaying increased alcoholism risk (Edenberg, 2007). Recent research has identified other promising canditates specifically among adolescents: polymorphisms in the DRD2 receptor, the DRD4 receptor, the dopamine transporter (DAT1; SLC6A3), and the serotonin transporter (5HTT; SLC64A; Hopfer et al., 2005)
