intronic SNPs in alcohol consumption 67. Allelic variation within the intronic SNP rs6943555 of AUTS2 was also associated with altered mRNA expression in human prefrontal cortex 67. Transcriptome meta-analysis of mice differing in voluntary alcohol consumption also showed expression differences of Auts2, which is located within a quantitative trait loci (QTL) for alcohol preference between high alcohol preferring (HAP1) and low alcohol preferring (LAP1) mice45. Furthermore, down-regulation of an AUTS2 homolog in Drosophila blunted alcohol sensitivity, providing cross-species evidence for the role of AUTS2 in alcohol-related behavioral traits 67. AUTS2 is a member of the upper quartile gene modules described herein for lifetime alcohol consumption, illustrating a specific gene within the network that has been validated in independent studies for alcohol consumption.
