We leveraged the genetic variance in ethanol expression profiles by deriving dense paraclique gene networks co-regulated by acute ethanol. These networks likely represent initial perturbations of key molecular pathways, which, upon repeated consumption of ethanol, produce downstream neuroadaptations associated with alcohol abuse and dependence. The functional results of ErGeN1 and ErGeN3 (both of which were highly populated with robust ethanol-responsive genes) support this assertion, as both networks were significantly enriched for proteins involved in neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity (Table 4, Table S7).
