Gabrb1, the alcohol-regulating genePerhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that ordinary mice had no special interest in alcoholic beverages, opting to go for a bottle of normal water over a bottle of diluted alcohol.
However, mice with a mutated Gabrb1 gene showed a strong preference for alcoholic beverages, even going as far as to consume about 85% of their daily fluid intake in the form of alcohol.
The gene was isolated when researchers from the Imperial College London, supervised by Professor Howard Thomas, worked at the MRC Mammalian Genetics unit to randomly introduce subtle mutations into the mice’s genetic code. Afterwards, they tested the mice for alcohol preference.
The researchers were then able to identify the Gabrb1 gene, and found that mice carrying one of two mutations in the gene preferred drinking alcohol (10% ethanol – close to the strength of wine) to ordinary water. This led the researchers to conclude that the mutated gene had a strong influence on the test subjects’ alcohol preference.
In fact, the gene’s influence on the mice was strong enough to make them exert physical effort just to get to the alcohol, as the mice had to push a lever to gain access to the drink.
Dr Quentin Anstee, a consultant hepatologist at Newcastle University and one of the study’s lead authors, found this remarkable.
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