This paper presents the first genome-wide association study of an ERO phenotype – frontal theta oscillations (Fz electrode) to visual targets in a visual oddball paradigm during the P300 response time window. Theta EROs have been related to fronto-limbic interactions associated with a complex set of cognitive functions, including conscious awareness, attention, memory-related processes, and frontal inhibitory control, and has exhibited marked energy reductions in alcoholics and their offspring [
Jones et al., 2006b;
Rangaswamy et al., 2007]. Significant linkage and association has been previously reported for
CHRM2 and
GRM8 polymorphisms for the theta ERO endophenotype and diagnoses (DSM-IV and ICD-10) of alcohol dependence [Jones et al.,
2004,
2006a;
Chen et al., 2009], implicating both the cholinergic and glutamatergic neurotransmitter systems. None of the top GWAS hits in the present study come from these two genes, but some promising signals are observed, including rs1362178 (
P = 0.0034) from
GRM8 and rs17168817 (
P = 0.033) from
CHRM2. None of the most associated markers (
P < 0.01; N = 10) identified in these earlier studies were captured by the Illumina HumanHap 1M microarray and thus they could not be evaluated in the GWAS. Of the 18 previously reported SNPs associated with theta ERO and/or diagnoses of alcohol dependence, only rs2299498 from
GRM8 (
Chen et al., 2009) exhibits nominal significance (
P = 0.028) in this study. Although these findings for
CHRM2 and
GRM8 are modest, they are not unexpected. Associations between
GRM8 and
CHRM2 and theta EROs were discovered primarily through linkage analysis, a method designed to detect a different set of genetic effects than those of GWAS [
Manolio et al., 2009;
Psychiatric GWAS Consortium Coordinating Committee, 2009]. In particular, if the previously observed linkage signals came from the joint effects of multiple rare or uncommon variants in these genes, we would not expect to detect these genes in GWAS studies, which are designed to capture associations with common variants.
The results from the GWAS and follow-up analyses implicate several genes influencing theta EROs that were not detected by previous linkage and association studies (). Based on combined
P-values, the most significant marker to emerge is rs4907240 located downstream of
ARID5A (
P = 3.7 × 10
−6), with effect sizes of 0.25 ± 0.06 μV and 0.10 ± 0.06 μV for the minor allele in the GWAS and replication, respectively. The protein encoded by
ARID5A belongs to a family of diverse proteins with recognized roles in development, tissue-specific gene expression, and cellular growth regulation [
Wilsker et al., 2002;
Patsialou et al., 2005], although with no reported role in brain development or neuroelectrical activity. In contrast, the next top-ranked SNP, rs13831, is within the 3′ UTR of
GNAS1 (estimated coefficients of −0.21 ± 0.05 μV and −0.15 ± 0.05 μV), a locus with a complex, imprinted expression pattern for multiple transcripts, including the G-protein alpha subunit (G
Sα) involved in the cellular actions of neurotransmitters, autocrine/paracrine factors, and hormones [
Bastepe, 2007;
Plagge et al., 2008], as well as neuroendocrine secretory protein 55 (NESP55) that is transcribed exclusively from the maternal allele [
Weiss et al., 2000]. Behavioral studies of mice with a knockout of the NESP55 transcript have revealed increased reactivity to novel environments, indicating a role of maternally expressed NESP55 in controlling exploratory and risk-taking behaviors and, given its distribution throughout the brain, raising the possibility that other types of behavior are under its influence [
Plagge et al., 2005].
The other two significant SNPs to emerge from the two-stage association analysis are rs2294015, a non-synonymous variant of ANXA13 that encodes a phospholipid-binding protein involved in cellular growth and signal transduction (coefficients of 0.21 ± 0.05 μV and 0.09 ± 0.05 μV), and intronic rs7916403 from serotonin receptor gene HTR7 (effect sizes of 0.10 ± 0.05 μV and 0.17 ± 0.05 μV for the T allele). All four implicated SNPs were tested for association with alcohol dependence, with only rs7916403 showing a significant relationship to the disease under a recessive mode of genetic influence, with estimated ORs of 1.32 (P = 0.036) and 1.37 (P = 0.042) in the two samples (similar OR scores were observed for the European-American subsets). Haplotype-based testing of a 5.8 kb LD block encompassing the HTR7 variant lends support to this finding, revealing a significant joint-association to alcohol dependence (P = 0.0074) that weakens when the effects of rs7916403 are controlled for (P = 0.098).
The association signals observed at
HTR7 are compelling, as they indicate important genetic effects on both neuroelectrical activity and the risk of alcohol dependence. Although the
HTR7 marker shows a stronger association with theta band EROs in the family sample, this does not suggest that the association is only relevant to affected families but that the neuroelectrical effect at this locus is more easily detected on a genetic background with a higher load of AD risk alleles. The
HTR7 gene encodes a G-protein-coupled neurotransmitter receptor of the serotonergic system. Serotonin (5-HT) is one of the most widely used neurotransmitters in the brain, whose effects are produced through its interaction with 14 membrane-bound receptors, including the most recently identified receptor 5-HT
7, and has been implicated in the etiology of numerous psychiatric disease states, including depression, social phobia, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive, migraine, and eating disorders [
Naughton et al., 2000;
Hoyer et al., 2002;
Nichols and Nichols, 2008]. The distribution of 5-HT
7 binding sites in discrete areas of the brain, such as the limbic system and thalamocortical regions, overlaps the areas of neuroelectrical activity of theta EROs and suggests a possible role in pathophysiology of affective disorders. Three isoforms have been identified in humans [5-HT
7(a), 5-HT
7(b), and 5-HT
7(d)], encoding proteins varying in the length of their carboxy terminal ends [
Heidmann et al., 1997], although no differences have been observed in their signal transduction or tissue distribution [
Jasper et al., 1997;
Heidmann et al., 1998]. The development of 5-HT
7 antagonists [
Thomas et al., 2003] and the generation of a Htr7 knockout mouse [
Hedlund et al., 2003] have revealed a role for the receptor in the control of circadian rhythms and sleep, as well as in modulating hippocampal neuronal functions such as learning and memory [
Hedlund and Sutcliffe, 2004;
Roberts et al., 2004;
Sprouse et al., 2004;
Thomas and Hagan, 2004;
Cifariello et al., 2008;
Eriksson et al., 2008]. Pharmacologically, 5-HT
7 receptors have a high affinity for a number of antidepressants and antipsychotics, such as clozapine and risperidone [
Roth et al., 1994], underscoring their potential role in the neurophysiology of psychiatric disorders. However, to date, purported human disease relationships with 5-HT
7 have been limited to schizophrenia [
Ikeda et al., 2006].
Hence, the association between
HTR7 and alcohol dependence represents a novel insight into the genetic underpinnings of the disorder. Alcohol dependence is considered to be part of a wider spectrum of disinhibitory disorders that include externalizing behavior and substance abuse, with many neurochemical factors and pathways contributing to co-occurring disinhibitory personality traits. Presently, several common genetic determinants for neural oscillations and alcohol dependence have been discovered in the GABAergic, cholinergic, and glutamatergic systems (
GABRA2,
CHRM2, and
GRM8, respectively). Based on the results of the present study, as well as pharmacological research [
Buhot et al., 2000], the serotonergic system may serve as a key modulator of these interactive neuroelectrical systems, involved in different “cognitive pathways”, such as memory and learning processes, with the hippocampus and frontal cortex serving as the main target structures [
Frodl-Bauch et al., 1999;
Cifariello et al., 2008]. Moreover, administration of 5-HT
7 antagonists in adolescent rats has been shown to enhance behavioral impulsivity, while agonist-induced activation of endogenous 5-HT
7 significantly increased neurite length in striatal neuron primary cultures, suggesting remodeling of neuronal plasticity in brain reward circuits [
Leo et al., 2009]. However, previous studies on human brain oscillation measures and alcohol dependence have not found any evidence of genetic association involving serotonin receptors. However, in a pair of recent genome-wide linkage studies, a significant linkage peak (LOD = 3.3) was identified at chromosome 10q23.3 – 10q24.1 for alcohol dependence in African-Americans [
Gelernter et al., 2009], as well as a suggestive signal (LOD = 2.6) at 10q23.1 – 10q25.1 for a quantitative measure of alcoholism and illicit drug dependence [
Agrawal et al., 2008], a region that encompasses the
HTR7 gene.
In conclusion, this two-stage GWAS has identified four genes that may contribute to the expression of event-related theta oscillations measured in the frontal region of the brain and are worthy of further investigation: ARID5A, GNAS1, ANXA13, and HTR7. Of these four, the serotonin receptor gene HTR7 also appears to play a role in the risk for alcohol dependence, with a significant association emerging in the case-control samples for intronic marker rs7916403. The risk allele for rs7916403 has an OR of 1.24 for an additive measured genotype model, although significant recessive effects for diagnoses of alcohol dependence were detected for both sample sets that notably parallel the theta ERO deficits observed among corresponding T/T homozygotes. Haplotype-based tests of HTR7 LD blocks lend support to these findings, revealing significant omnibus association with alcohol dependence, with important effects contributed by the rs7916403 variant. Therefore, the results of the study are compelling, implicating the serotonergic system in the genetic susceptibility of alcohol dependence, although further research is needed to fully determine the functional importance of 5-HT7 in the generation of theta EROs and its contribution to the biological basis of alcohol dependence.