In meta-analysis, the strongest association (p = 7.2 × 10−7) was detected with rs4758317, an intronic SNP in LMO1, a cysteine rich, two LIM domain transcription regulator. This gene is expressed in the brain and involved in gene regulation within neural lineage cells potentially by direct DNA binding or by binding to other transcription factors. Recently researchers have showed that members of the LMO gene family are involved in regulation of behavioral responses to ethanol in Drosophila melanogaster and the mouse (Lasek et al. 2011). In flies, decreased expression of Drosophila Lim-only (dLmo) was associated with increased sensitivity to ethanol-induced sedation, whereas increased expression of dLmo led to increased resistance to ethanol-induced sedation. A similar increase in ethanol sensitivity was observed in Lmo3−/− mice. Injecting lentivirus expressing either shLmo3.8 or shScr in single- cell embryos knocked down the Lmo3 expression in mice. In addition to an effect on ethanol sedation, reducing Lmo3 levels also correlated with decreased ethanol consumption, suggesting that Lmo3 may play a role in alcohol preference in mammals. In another study, Wang and colleagues used quantitative PCR
