Alcohol dependence (AD) is a major public health burden with substantial costs for individuals and societies (Rice, 1999). Despite robust evidence for genetic influences on risk (Cotton, 1979; Sigvardsson et al., 1996; Prescott et al., 2005a) and heritability estimates of ~50% (Ystrom et al., 2011), the genes influencing AD risk remain largely unidentified.
