Regulation of the seven human alcohol dehydrogenase genes

Whole-Genome Sequencing of a 900-Year-Old Human Skeleton Supports Two Past Migration Events from the Russian Far East to Northern Japan

Recent studies on paleogenomics have reported some Paleolithic and Neolithic genomes that have provided new insights into the human population history in East and Northeast Asia. However, there remain some cases where more recent migration events need to be examined to elucidate the detailed formation process of local populations. Although the area around northern Japan is one of the regions archaeologically suggested to have been affected by migration waves after the Neolithic period, the genetic source of these migrations are still unclear. Thus, genomic data from such past migrant populations would be highly informative to clarify the detailed formation process of local populations in this region. Here, we report the genome sequence of a 900-year-old adult female (NAT002) belonging to the prehistoric Okhotsk people, who have been considered to be the past migrants to northern Japan after the Neolithic period. We found a close relationship between NAT002 and modern Lower Amur populations and past admixture events between the Amur, Jomon, and Kamchatka ancestries. The admixture dating suggested migration of Amur-related ancestry at approximately 1,600 BP, which is compatible with the archaeological evidence regarding the settlement of the Okhotsk people. Our results also imply migration of Kamchatka-related ancestry at approximately 2,000 BP. In addition, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing detected the HLA-B*40 allele, which is reported to increase the risk of arthritis, suggesting the genetic vulnerability of NAT002 to hyperostosis, which was observed around her chest clavicle.

Alcohol Consumption and Lung Cancer According to Ile349Val Polymorphism in ADH3 Gene: Beyond the Tobacco Smoking Effect

Objectives: Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. However, several studies have suggested other factors such as alcohol consumption could also play a role through polymorphisms associated with alcohol metabolism. We investigated the association between alcohol consumption and lung cancer according to the Ile349Val polymorphism in the alcohol dehydrogenase 3 ADH3 gene. Methods: We carried out a hospital-based case-control study, a total of 402 incident cases of lung cancer and 383 controls were genotyped for the Ile349Val polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction combined with restriction fragment length polymorphism. Alcohol consumption and other variables were measured using questionnaires in personal interviews. We used multiple logistic regressions to estimate adjusted odd ratios using and 95% confidence intervals. Results: In multivariate analysis, an increased risk of lung cancer was observed for the highest category of alcohol consumption (≥30 g/day), although it does not reach statistical significance (OR=1.60, 95% CI: 0.91-2.83). Besides, an increased risk of lung cancer was observed in the highest category of alcohol consumption for the Ile/Val genotype compared with the Ile/Ile genotype (OR=2.35, 95% CI: 1.04-5.33). Conclusions: This study suggests that beyond smoking consumption, a high consumption of alcohol might increase the risk of lung cancer. No clear association was found between alcohol consumption and lung cancer according to the Ile349Val polymorphism in ADH3 gene.

Polymorphism study of seven SNPs at ADH genes in 15 Chinese populations

It has been shown that the variants of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) genes exhibit great diversities among various populations and are associated with susceptibility to alcoholism. To investigate the distribution of SNPs at ADH genes in Chinese populations and the genetic relationship of these groups, we collected 467 individuals from 15 groups distributing widely from north to south in China and genotyped 7 SNPs at ADH genes respectively. The statistic analyses of allele frequencies, estimated haplotype frequencies, pairwise linkage disequilibrium, AMOVA (analysis of molecular variance), pairwise Fst', and cluster analysis indicated (1) that six of these seven SNPs showed great variations in the 15 Chinese populations, and three of them (RsaI, SspI, EcoRI), were confirmed to be informative SNPs. However, the causative SNP ADH1B Arg47His confirmed in case-control studies could not act as significant indicator to distinguish bibulous groups from non-bibulous groups in healthy individuals; (2) haplotypes constructed with ADH SNPs could be used as markers to discern different populations in China, and six-allele haplotype "221211" was the most common one defined in present study; (3) on the basis of SNPs analysis of ADH genes, the 15 populations were grouped into northern groups and southern groups. Moreover, the origin relationship among the populations was indicated according to the results of cluster analysis.