Using these approaches, for the first time we report on the genomewide SNP-heritability of alcohol craving. Similar to our earlier report using a larger, but ancestrally mixed SAGE sample (Agrawal et al., 2013), 21% percent of the total sample endorsed alcohol craving. The univariate SNP-heritability of 0.24 (SE=0.21; post-hoc power=0.57) for craving did not meet our criteria for statistical significance, however, the high loading (>0.85) of the craving item on the latent AUD factor, which had a SNP-heritability of 0.36 (standard error [SE] = 0.13), suggests genetic effects on craving. Notably, our analysis of the genetic effects across symptoms suggested some differential effects of genomewide SNPs across AUD symptoms, but craving was least explained by the common genetic factors. A review of the alcohol literature identified two studies supporting the role of variation across the alpha-synuclein gene (SNCA) and alcohol craving. α-synuclein has been shown to play a role in dopamine functioning across several regions of the brain (e.g., inhibiting dopamine synthesis; (Perez et al., 2002)) – making it a candidate for addiction research. In regards to alcohol, Foroud et
