In GeneNetwork, the strongest correlation observed for mouse Col6a3 basal whole brain expression (GN113, probeset 1424131_at_A) is with total HIC score (sum of baseline subtracted HIC at 4, 6 and 7 hrs) after 4 g/kg IP ethanol in males (Philip et al., 2010) (trait 11382, correlation rank=1, rho=0.959, p=1.05×10−9, N=13 strains, Figure 5A), which surpasses our Bonferroni-corrected significance level of p=2.5×10−5. HIC at 7 hours in males (trait 11380, correlation rank=2, rho=0.835, p=3.11×10−6, N=18 strains) and in males and females (trait 11894, correlation rank=3, rho=0.780, p=5.11×10−5, N=18 strains) (Philip et al., 2010) are also strongly correlated with Col6a3 expression, and all three HIC measures are highly correlated (phenotypic rho=0.91–0.95). Col6a3 expression correlated negatively with 2-bottle choice ethanol preference (Phillips et al., 1994) (trait 10479, correlation rank=67, rho=−0.569, p=0.0124, N=18 strains, Figure 5B). While this is not significant after multiple test correction, it is consistent with the expectation that factors increasing HIC will decrease voluntary consumption (Metten et al., 1998).
